Iran bans two UN nuclear inspectors for ‘false’ reports

The move signals a more confrontational Iranian stance over its nuclear program after the country was slapped with a fourth round of UN Security Council sanctions June 9.

Iranian parliamentarians have been calling for a reduction in ties with the International Atomic Energy agency, the UN nuclear watchdog. They also called for banning the inspectors.

“Their reports were completely false,’’ Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief, said, according to the semiofficial Iranian Students’ News Agency. Salehi said the inspectors had provided media groups with classified information.

“Iran announced that these two [inspectors] would not have the right to enter the country due to submitting wrong information . . . as well as disclosing classified information before the proper official time,’’ Salehi told ISNA. He did not state the names or the nationalities of the two inspectors.

In Washington, House and Senate negotiators said they have reached agreement on a new round of economic sanctions against Iran aimed at dissuading Tehran from pursuing the development of nuclear weapons.

The latest proposed sanctions focus on disrupting exports of gasoline and other refined petroleum products to Iran and banning US banks from doing business with foreign banks that provide financial services to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

The draft agreement follows international and US moves to punish Iran for its refusal to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

The UN Security Council approved a resolution two weeks ago to strengthen sanctions and call upon countries and blocs of nations to expand their own sanctions on Iranian individuals and organizations. The European Union followed with new sanctions, and last week the Treasury Department said it would restrict economic contacts with some three dozen additional individuals and companies alleged to be helping Iran develop its nuclear and missile programs and evade international penalties.

In May, the IAEA said Iran was pushing ahead with higher-level uranium enrichment and failing to answer the agency’s questions about possible military dimensions to its nuclear work or address concerns about possible undisclosed activities.

After a deal for swapping fuel for a medical reactor fell through, Iran in February started enriching uranium up to 19.5 percent. Officials say the uranium will be used to keep the medical reactor in operation. The United States and other Western nations suspect, however, that Iran is working toward producing a nuclear weapon.

In 2007, Iran banned 38 inspectors — mainly British, French, and Canadian nationals — from returning to Iran, after those countries supported the first round of sanctions in 2006.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.