Tehran Criticizes U.N. Demands on Uranium

Iran denounced as “illegal” demands by the U.N. atomic watchdog agency that it freeze all work on uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used for nuclear weapons, threatening to limit cooperation with the agency if it moves toward sanctions.

But Hassan Rowhani, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, stopped short of rejecting the International Atomic Energy Agency’s demands outright and held out the possibility of negotiations on the issue.

Rowhani’s comments came at a news conference a day after the IAEA governing board issued a demand to freeze all enrichment-related work and said it would judge Tehran’s compliance in two months.