Tehran, Jan 17, SPA -- Iran on Tuesday lifted its ban on CNN after the U.S. news network apologized for misquoting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying Tehran wanted nuclear weapons, a top culture ministry official said. Iran banned CNN journalists from working in the country on Monday after its simultaneous translation of Ahmadinejad's news conference on Saturday included the phrase "the use of nuclear weapons is Iran's right". In fact, what the Iranian president said was that "Iran has the right to nuclear energy". CNN later apologized for making a mistake. "Following a request from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the ban on the activities of CNN's stringer in Iran was lifted," Mohammad Hossein Khoshvaght, director of foreign media at Iran's culture ministry, told Reuters. --SPA 11 57 Local Time 08 57 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/319383