Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) claims against Iran are made under US pressure, Press TV reported.
"The IAEA chief presses claims against our country under pressure from the US government while refusing to provide us with any evidence. Therefore, such comments are merely political rhetoric and lack legality," President Ahmadinejad said in an interview with the Netherlands' Nova TV released on Wednesday.
"It is widely acknowledged that the IAEA adopts its stances under political pressure from permanent members of the UN Security Council and this accounts for one of the reasons that it has failed to disarm nuclear- armed states and prevent proliferation," he added.
He said that the US used its privilege at the IAEA and the UN Security Council to pile up pressure on Iran over its nuclear work.
Ahmadinejad said that the law did not allow the US as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency to bring claims against Iran.
"The US presents claims against Iran while, under the law, claims by members of the agency against one another are not valid. But the Agency continues to refer to such claims in contravention of the law," he noted.
Ahmadinejad said that Iran's nuclear facilities were being fully monitored by the IAEA, rejecting claims that the Islamic Republic has not been cooperative enough.
He stated that Iran's cooperation with the IAEA has been beyond its legal obligations.
Iran's president also criticized the nuclear watchdog for issuing "equivocal" reports on the country's nuclear work and said the IAEA was obliged to help countries with their peaceful nuclear works but it had failed to fulfill its duty in this respect.
The IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano on Monday released its latest report on Iran's nuclear work, in which he once gain confirmed that the IAEA continued to "verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran."
The report, however, urged Iran to "cooperate in clarifying outstanding issues."
Ahmadinejad said that the country has answered six major questions put forward by the IAEA, as confirmed by the nuclear watchdog.