Iran rejects Western censure motion submitted to IAEA

Iran said it rejected a draft resolution by Western nations calling on it to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"They wrote a resolution and brought documents which they themselves know are not true and which are rejected by the Islamic republic," Iran's atomic energy chief Mohamed Eslami said.

An IAEA delegation was due to visit Iran this month, but Eslami said that "for the moment, no visit of the agency (IAEA) is on the agenda".

"We have responded to all of the IAEA's allegations and accusations and, if it had good intentions and a will to continue negotiations, they would not have presented a resolution" against Iran, he added.

The resolution calling on Iran to cooperate fully with the IAEA comes after a report by the agency concluded there had been "no progress" in a long-standing probe into undeclared nuclear material in Iran.

The draft text underscored that it was "essential and urgent" for Iran to "act to fulfil its legal obligations".

It comes against the backdrop of stalled talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.

The deal Iran reached with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States gave it relief from sanctions in return for guarantees it could not develop an atomic weapon. Iran has always denied wanting a nuclear arsenal.

The deal collapsed after Washington's unilateral withdrawal in 2018 under then president Donald Trump.