Iran Calls IAEA's Demands 'Excessive': Report

Iran will not accept the U.N. nuclear watchdog's "excessive" demands, the spokesperson of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization was cited as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Tuesday.

After months of indirect talks, Tehran and Washington are struggling to revive a 2015 nuclear deal. A key sticking point is Tehran's insistence that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) closed its probes into uranium traces found at three undeclared sites before the nuclear pact is revived. "We consider the IAEA's demands excessive, because their implementation is impossible due to sanctions," Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted as saying. "If they lift sanctions ... then Iran will reciprocate."

It was not clear whether Kamalvandi referred to the IAEA's probes.