Iran denounces IAEA press leaks

TEHRAN, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Iranian officials say the International Atomic Energy Agency isn't doing a good enough job preventing information leaks to the news media.

Iran's Mehr News, citing an unnamed diplomatic source, reported the Iranian ambassador to the IAEA, Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh, has complained about the press leaks to IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei, the state-backed Iranian Press TV said Saturday.

Syria's ambassador to the international nuclear watchdog also reportedly complained about leaks after news outlets wrote detailed stories about Iran's negotiations with the IAEA as ElBaradei released his latest report on Iran's nuclear program this week.

In the report, the IAEA said it found no diversions from Iran's nuclear energy program for possible weapons use, but it called for more information on U.S. allegations that Iran is pursing studies on uranium conversion, high explosives testing and the alleged re-purposing of a missile re-entry vehicle to hold a nuclear warhead, Press TV said.

Iran denies the allegations, most of which come from documents allegedly found by U.S. officials in 2004 on a stolen laptop computer -- documents that Iranian officials have denounced as forgeries.