Iran rejects ‘pressure’

VIENNA: Iran rejected on Wednesday "undue pressure" from the US and Israel over its nuclear programme and warned it could be "counterproductive" to cooperation with the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

Tehran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Agency (IAEA), Kazem Gharib Abadi, told a meeting of the agency’s board of governors that recent statements by US officials and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amounted to "a US-Israeli plot" to put pressure on the agency and its inspection activities in Iran. Gharib Abadi told reporters that "we interpret all these acts and activities as undue pressure on the agency".