NEW YORK, Sept 15: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has lodged a protest with Washington over an intelligence report on Tehran’s nuclear programme, saying that it ‘contains erroneous, misleading and unsubstantiated information, the New York Times said.

The nuclear watchdog’s officials said their concerns had echoes of their arguments with the Bush administration over Iraq three years ago.

A senior European diplomat told the Times: “The view at the IAEA was that this House report exaggerated the evidence, and people had to put a marker down fast.”

The charges were contained in a letter dated Sept 12 and sent to Rep Peter Hoekstra, the Michigan Republican who is chairman of the committee.

Its unclassified staff report, released last month, was widely seen as an effort to prod American intelligence agencies to be more aggressive in their examination of Iran’s nuclear programme, amid charges from some conservatives that the mistakes made in assessing Iraq’s programmes had bred an overly cautious atmosphere.

The newspaper said the report immediately came under criticism, especially from Democrats on the committee.