Iran accuses US of double-standards on nuclear issue

Tehran: Iran has accused the United States of double standards following a nuclear deal with India, state television reported on Saturday.

Press TV said in a headline: "Iran condemns US double nuclear standards." The comments came just before a deadline set by the West in a dispute over Tehran's atomic ambitions.

Iran missed a Saturday deadline to respond to an incentives offer by Western powers to persuade Iran to freeze its nuclear programme.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran was not aware of any agreement over the deadline.

Soltanieh also criticised US policy after governors of the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, on Friday approved an inspections plan for India.

Unlike India, Iran is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Soltanieh accused the United States of a discriminatory move and of violating the "spirit and letter" of the NPT, while he said Iran faced restrictions and was being "deprived from access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes."