Tehran, June 8 -- Iran has launched a sharp diplomatic rebuke against the top leadership of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, accusing the agency's chief of compromising institutional neutrality amid intensifying friction over the country's atomic programme.

The remarks were made by Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei during a weekly press conference, where he directly questioned the objectivity of the international monitoring body.

Tehran has accused International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of showing "deliberate bias" against Tehran amid escalating tensions.

Addressing the broader diplomatic fallout of the agency's recent assessments, the ministry asserted that the Director ...