GENEVA, September 17. /TASS/. Iran has officially protested against the US membership of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Islamic Republic's Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva said in a statement on Thursday.

"During the [previous] Board meeting, Iran objected to the US designation for the Board membership," according to the statement read out at the 70th Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference in Vienna. Today, Tehran continued, it raises "the same principled objection."

According to the Iranian delegation, having the United States on the global nuclear body’s Board "would create a structural conflict of interest," undermine its neutrality, and further erode confidence in the IAEA itself.

"The US designation to the Board of Governors is incompatible with the letter and spirit of the Statute, as well as the Agency’s founding principles," the Iranian diplomats concluded.