Iran''s Atomic Energy Organization said Saturday it was ready to answer any questions the UN nuclear watchdog had about the Iranian nuclear program, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

"We are ready to answer all valid questions posed by the agency, but at the same time we expect the IAEA to stop undermining its authority by attaching significance to false information and illogical claims," said Mohsen Delaviz, the organization''s newly appointed spokesman,.

The New York Times newspaper reported Friday that the International Atomic Energy Agency had a document that showed a Russian scientist had helped Iran test detonators for a nuclear weapon.

The newspaper said the scientist was not connected to the Russian government, which is building the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran.

"Iran has always lived up to its commitments before the IAEA and actively cooperated with it, to show the good intentions and transparency of Iran''s nuclear activities," Delaviz said.

Iran is under three sets of relatively mild sanctions over its nuclear program, which it insists is purely civilian but the West, led by the United States and Israel, maintains is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.