TEHRAN (Tasnim) � Iran will never allow foreigners to interview its nuclear scientists, an Iranian lawmaker reiterated.

Speaking to Tasnim, Mohammad Saleh Jokar also noted that Tehran has twice rejected US bids to include interviews with Iranian scientists in a possible final nuclear deal.

Americans had drawn up a list of 23 Iranian people they wanted to interview about the country�s nuclear program, but after Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei�s outright rejection of any interviews with the Iranian scientists, Washington proposed a list with 15 names, he stated.

"That list of 15 individuals was also rejected. We will never accede to the Americans' excessive demands and will never let our (nuclear) scientists be interviewed," added Jokar, a member of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy commission.

Back on April 9, Ayatollah Khamenei had categorically rejected foreign access to the country's "security and defensive" sectors under the pretext of nuclear monitoring.

Later on May 20, the Leader ruled out any request for interviews with Iranian nuclear scientists, describing it as an instance of "interrogation".

"I would not let foreigners come (here) and talk to the Iranian nation's dear scientists..., who have expanded this wide knowledge to this stage," Imam Khamenei stressed.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) are in talks to hammer out a lasting accord that would end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran's peaceful nuclear program.

By Tasnim News Agency