The hardliner editor of Iran's Kayhan Daily has accused the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency of spying for Israel’s Mossad and the US CIA.

Hossein Shariatmadari said in an interview with Fars news, affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, that several sabotage operations against Iran's nuclear facilities and assassinations of the country's nuclear scientists have been carried out using information gathered by Mossad and CIA spies under the cover of IAEA inspectors.

He referred to a 2015 article by Joshua Rovner from the Brookings institute that had said, “Not only will intelligence agencies benefit from inspection reports dealing with Iran’s nuclear program, but they will be free to explore other areas of Iran’s scientific and associated industrial infrastructure.”

Criticizing the recent visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi to Israel ahead of the IAEA Board of Governors’ meeting, Shariatmadari said the UN watchdog must explain whether Iran is dealing with the agency or Israel in the nuclear issue. 

Grossi was in Israel in advance of a meeting of the IAEA board scheduled for June 6-10, set to discuss Grossi's report saying that Tehran has failed to give satisfactory responses to agency queries over its nuclear work before 2003. On Friday, Iran described the visit as one of the "Zionist" plans against the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The Israeli premier last week issued documents from 2004-05 purporting to show that Iran used confidential IAEA files to mislead agency inspectors. This fueled reports that the United States or European states might move a resolution critical of Iran at next week’s meeting.