Iran accuses UN nuclear watchdog of being influenced by US, European countries

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei on Sunday accused the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of being influenced by the US and European countries.

"Beyond this formal damage, the agency's insistence on one-sided and biased reporting about Iran's peaceful nuclear program, which is caused by the political approaches of some of its managers and the influence of the US and European countries, has caused an irreparable blow to the technical and international credibility of this institution," Baqaei told a news briefing in Tehran cited by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Baqaei also accused Washington of "emptying the concept of diplomacy and negotiation from its true meaning."

The accusation came shortly after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Sunday that it had targeted a US early-warning radar system at al-Riffa Air Base in Bahrain with six drones.

Bahrain's Defense Force said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed several Iranian aerial attacks, accusing Tehran of continuing its "systematic hostile approach."

The escalation comes amid continued tensions between Iran and the US over navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway for global energy and commodity supplies.

Regional tensions have escalated since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran in February, triggering retaliatory Iranian attacks that targeted several countries in the region.

A ceasefire was reached in April, but fighting resumed in July as negotiations stalled, despite the two sides signing a memorandum of understanding a month earlier to resolve their conflict.