The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rejected Iran's reasons for the ban and said it fully supported the inspectors, which Tehran has accused of reporting wrongly that some nuclear equipment was missing.

"The IAEA has full confidence in the professionalism and impartiality of the inspectors concerned," spokesman Greg Webb said in an unusually blunt statement which described the IAEA's report issued last month as "fully accurate".

Iran, which has declared the two inspectors persona non grata, made clear it would still allow the Vienna-based UN watchdog to monitor its nuclear facilities, saying other experts could carry out the work.

"Inspections are continuing without any interruption," Iran's IAEA envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh told reporters in Vienna… “(But) we have to show more vigilance about the performance of the inspectors to protect the confidentiality," he said, criticizing alleged leaks by inspectors to Western media.

Also on Monday, US lawmakers announced a draft law that would effectively deprive foreign banks that do business with banned Iranian institutions of access to the US financial system.

Reuters