An Iranian information agency said Monday that Tehran had barred 38 experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency from inspecting Iran's nuclear facilities.
"Such measures as preventing certain inspectors from arriving in Tehran, which may be taken, comply with the laws and norms of the IAEA," Manuchehr Motaki said.
Some countries suspect Iran, which lifted its moratorium on uranium enrichment in January 2006, of pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program. Tehran has consistently denied the claims and says it needs nuclear power for civilian purposes.
Motaki said his ministry would announce this week the names of the inspectors that had been denied entry.
The ISNA news agency quoted a senior parliamentary official as saying earlier in the day: "Our refusal to grant entry to 38 inspectors from the IAEA is the first practical step to restrict cooperation with the agency in response to Resolution 1737, adopted by the UN Security Council."
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted the resolution on Iran on December 23, which imposed sanctions on the country's nuclear weapons programs but allowed officials to make foreign trips and companies to do business abroad.
The resolution banned activities involving uranium enrichment, chemical reprocessing, heavy water-based projects, and production of nuclear weapons delivery systems.
Tehran responded to the resolution by saying it would review its cooperation with the IAEA, and Alaeddin Borujerdi, head of parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said Iran had informed the IAEA, which is expected to file a report on Iran's nuclear program February 23, of its decision to ban the inspection.
Speaking in parliament last week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the nuclear program would continue regardless of any resolutions against it.
"Even if the UN Security Council adopts a dozen resolutions, this will not keep us from exercising our legitimate right to peaceful nuclear energy."
ISNA reported last Wednesday that Iranian authorities had invited representatives of international organizations to visit its nuclear facilities on February 2-5.
The agency cited Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's representative at the IAEA, as saying that the country had invited the envoys of three nations of the Non-Aligned Movement (Cuba, Malaysia and Egypt), the head of the Group of 77, a loose alliance of developing nations, representatives of the IAEA Board of Governors, and the permanent representative of the League of Arab States at international organizations in Vienna.
