Iran said on Tuesday its barring of two nuclear inspectors serves as "notice" to the head of the UN atomic agency but added Tehran was ready for talks with the watchdog as suggested by France.

"This action (banning the inspectors from entering Iran) is in reality a regulatory notice to (Yukiya) Amano to be careful so that the agency's inspectors do not violate the international entity's charter," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, quoted by the official news agency IRNA.

"Amano should manage the agency professionally," he said, referring to the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran said on Monday it was barring two IAEA inspectors from entering the country, accusing them of filing a "false report" and "leaking information" about its nuclear programme which the West suspects masks a weapons drive.

The Islamic republic says its nuclear programme is purely for peaceful purposes.

Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran told the IAEA at its latest meeting that the inspectors had filed a "totally wrong report" and called for them to be replaced by two other inspectors for visits to the country.

Iran's arch-foe Washington quickly criticised Tehran, saying the ban was "symptomatic of its longstanding practice of intimidating inspectors."

"Reducing cooperation with the IAEA will only deepen the world's concern with respect to its nuclear programme," US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

The ban on inspectors came less than a fortnight after the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions against Iran following a US-sponsored resolution.

In addition, the European Union imposed new sanctions of its own on Tehran last week, while senior US lawmakers are further pressuring Iran as they craft a series of unilateral punitive measures that Congress could approve this week.

The US legislation targets firms that provide the Islamic republic with refined petroleum products -- like gasoline or jet fuel -- which Iran imports in large quantities due to a lack of domestic refining capability.

Top US Treasury officials on Tuesday urged private companies to go beyond official sanctions and trim back ties with Iran, saying they played an "extremely important" role in building pressure against Tehran.

"Voluntary actions of the private sector amplify the effectiveness of government-imposed measures," said Stuart Levey, the top Treasury official dealing with sanctions, in prepared testimony for Congress.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose government backed the UN sanctions, has offered to hold talks with Iran at the IAEA, including a proposed nuclear fuel swap deal.

Mottaki, in a state television interview reported by IRNA, welcomed Sarkozy's offer.

"We believe there are serious signs that France is willing to conduct an independent action," Mottaki said.

"We see this approach as positive. If there are more serious signs of such a will, then Europe can enter a new phase of playing a greater role" in resolving Iran's nuclear issue, he said.

Sarkozy told his Russian counterpart at a meeting in Saint Petersburg on Saturday that France was ready "without delay" to hold talks with Iran in Vienna where the IAEA is based.

He reportedly said the talks could address the fuel swap deal brokered by Brazil and Turkey on May 17 and can also "restart negotiation between Iran and the six powers about the (overall) nuclear issue."

Talks between Iran and the six world powers -- Britain, France, Russia, China, the United States and Germany -- have been on the backburner since the fuel swap deal hit a deadlock.

The deal, which is a counter proposal to an IAEA plan drafted last October, envisages Tehran sending 1,200 kilogrammes of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey after which Iran would be supplied at a later date with 20 percent enriched uranium by Russia and France.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Tuesday that Iran's willingness to stick to the swap deal, despite the latest sanctions, was "positive."

"I am encouraged by the fact that in spite of a lot of rhetoric, which is natural, President Ahmadinejad said that the Tehran Declaration (the nuclear fuel swap deal) was still on the table," Amorim said in Bucharest.

earlier related report
US lawmakers unveil Iran sanctions bill
Washington (AFP) June 21, 2010 - Top US lawmakers crafting Iran sanctions legislation announced Monday they had reached a deal on a series of punitive measures aimed at piling pressure on Tehran over its suspect nuclear program.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman said they were circulating their draft bill to colleagues, and sources said the US Congress could approve the measure as early as this week.

Berman and Dodd said their blueprint, which aims to tighten existing US sanctions on the Islamic republic, would give President Barack Obama "a full range of tools to deal with the threats posed by Iran."

"If applied forcefully by the president, this act will bring strong new pressure to bear on Tehran in order to combat its proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, support for international terrorism and gross human rights abuses," they said in a joint statement.

The legislation targets firms that provide Iran with refined petroleum products -- like gasoline or jet fuel. The oil-rich country relies heavily on imports because of a lack of domestic refining capability.

It could also see non-US banks doing business with certain blacklisted Iranian entities -- including Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and several banks -- shut out of the US financial system, according to a summary.

"In effect, the act would present foreign banks doing business with blacklisted Iranian entities a stark choice: Cease your activities or be denied critical access to America's financial system," the summary said.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said "we appreciate that House and Senate leaders have come together with a strong bill that builds upon the recently passed UN Security Council Resolution, grants the President new authority, and strengthens a multilateral strategy to isolate and pressure Iran.

"We will continue to work with the Congress over the coming days as it finalizes work on this important bill, and in our ongoing efforts to hold Iran accountable," Gibbs said.

The measure must first be approved by a House-Senate "conference," then separately by each chamber before Obama can sign it into law.

The compromise bill emerged after the UN Security Council imposed a fourth set of sanctions June 9 in response to Iran's refusal to freeze its uranium enrichment -- which can be a key step toward building a nuclear bomb.

Last week, the European Union imposed new sanctions of its own on Tehran, which denies Western charges that it seeks an atomic arsenal.

The EU measures targeted energy-sector investments, as well as the transportation, banking and insurance sectors, and slapped new visa bans and asset freezes on the Guards.

Australia also acted against Iran, imposing sanctions on Bank Mellat, a major financier of Iranian missile and nuclear programs, as well as a major Iranian shipping line and a "key leader" of the Guards, General Rostam Qasemi.

And the US Treasury Department also tightened the screws on Iran, targeting insurance and oil firms and shipping lines linked to Iran's atomic or missile programs as well as the Guards and Iran's defense minister Ahmad Vahidi, freezing assets and forbidding US firms from doing business with them.

The new US legislation would also aim to hold US banks -- long barred from doing business with Iran -- accountable for actions by their overseas subsidiaries.

The bill would target non-US firms that sell goods, services or know-how to Iran that help the Islamic republic develop its energy sector, including insurance, financing and shipping companies.

It would also forbid US banks from financial transactions with non-US banks that do business with the Guards, help Iran's nuclear program or its support for extremist groups.

The measure would also target the finances of alleged Iranian human rights abusers and impose travel restrictions on those officials.

And it would deny US government contracts to any non-US company that sells or provides Iran with "technology used to restrict the free flow of information or to disrupt, monitor, or otherwise restrict freedom of speech."

The bill would also enable US states and local governments to divest from foreign firms engaged in Iran's energy sector, and would tighten the existing US trade embargo on Iranian goods by curbing the number of exempted products.

The draft also aims to reduce the president's ability to waive sanctions on specific individuals, companies or countries.