U.S. on smear campaign, Iran claims

TEHRAN, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The United States is spreading propaganda about other countries to divert attention from its economic and political woes, Tehran said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency last week said it wasn't able to verify Iran's nuclear activity wasn't used for illicit purposes. David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector who reviewed IAEA intelligence, told The Washington Post that Tehran "never really stopped" working on a nuclear weapon.

"After 2003, money was made available for research in areas that sure look like nuclear weapons work but were hidden within civilian institutions," he was quoted as saying.

In October, Washington accused Iran of plotting to assassinate the Saudi envoy to Washington with the help of a member of a Mexican drug cartel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, however, told the official Islamic Republic News Agency that Washington was launching a smear campaign to distract attention from its own woes.

"White House officials, whose political and economic incompetence has peaked today, use fabricated lies and sow the seeds of discord among different countries to draw attention away from their problems," he said.