The treaty was "not conceived just for Iran or Third World Countries and sooner or later all IAEA member states will have to sign up," Ali Akbar Salehi told the government daily Iran.

"I hope that we can overcome the problem by the next IAEA board of governors meeting in September through the measures that top officials are going to take in the coming month," Salehi said, adding that he felt "confident".

Earlier this month, EU foreign ministers expressed "increasing concern" over Iran's nuclear programme and warned that the bloc would review relations with Tehran unless it cooperated fully with the IAEA.

Washington has threatened to raise the issue with the UN Security Council.

SPACE.WIRE