Iran defends its move to bar some U.N. nuclear inspectors

Iran on Saturday defended its move to bar some U.N. nuclear inspectors, and accused the United States, Britain, France and Germany of politicising the IAEA watchdog, state media reported.

"Unfortunately, despite Iran's positive, constructive and continuous interaction of the with the agency, the three European countries and the United States abused the (IAEA's) Board of Governors for their own political purposes," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog earlier condemned Iran's move to bar about a third of the agency's most experienced inspectors assigned to the country, after a call led by the United States, Britain, France and Germany at the IAEA Board of Governors for Tehran to cooperate with the IAEA on issues including explaining uranium traces found at undeclared sites.