United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, speaking after talks with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Sunday, said that the Iranian president expressed willingness to negotiate on Iran's nuclear program, but was not prepared to suspend uranium enrichment ahead of any talks.

"On the nuclear issue, the president reaffirmed to me Iran's preparedness and determination to negotiate and find a solution to the crisis," Annan told told a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki after the meeting.

However, Ahmadinejad "reiterated that he did not accept suspension before negotiations," Annan said.

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The UN leader said that Ahmadinejad also reiterated that Iran would back the UN resolution on Lebanon that ended a month of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based militant group sponsored by Iran.

Ahmadinejad "reaffirmed his country's support for the implementation of Resolution 1701 and agrees with me that we should do everything to strengthen the territorial integrity of Lebanon," Annan said at the press conference.

Annan met Saturday with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, in which he was also told that he could count on Larijani's "full cooperation" on UN Resolution 1701.

"We are pleased to hear that," Ahmad Fawzi, a UN spokesman traveling with Annan, said Saturday.

Annan also condemned an exhibition of cartoons about the Holocaust in Iran, saying at the press conference that "the tragedy of Holocaust was an undeniable fact," and calling for it not to be used "as an excuse for incitement to hatred."

Annan said during his talks in Tehran he had discussed the exhibition of cartoons about the Holocaust, which was organized in retaliation for the September publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in Danish and other European newspapers.

"I think all of us in this room remember the uproar the Danish cartoons created particularly in this region," Annan said, adding that the right to freedom of expression had to be exercised with sensitivity and responsibility.

"I think the tragedy of the Holocaust is a sad and an undeniable historical fact so we should really handle that, accept that fact and teach children what happened in World War Two and ensure that it is never repeated.

"We should be careful not to say anything that is used as an excuse for incitement to hatred or violence."

A UN spokesman said Annan had condemned the Holocaust cartoons as "distasteful."

"As he condemned the Danish cartoons he condemned these cartoons as well," said Fawzi.

A leading American Jewish group had urged Annan to speak out against the exhibition when he visited Iran.

Iran announced Sunday that it would host a conference on the Holocaust in the fall. Ahmadinejad has on more than one occasion denied that the Holocaust occurred.

The caricatures of Prophet Mohammad that were published in Europe sparked storm of protest in the Muslim world and prompted attacks on European embassies, including in Iran.