Vienna, Austria ? Iran froze a probe of its nuclear program indefinitely Saturday, spurning the U.N. atomic agency’s governing body over a resolution that censured Tehran for hiding suspicious activities.

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Hasan Rowhani, described the resolution passed earlier Saturday as “unfair and deceitful.” He said International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, who were due to arrive in Tehran on Saturday, would not be allowed in.

“We will not allow them to come until Iran sets a new date for their visit,” Rowhani told reporters in Iran’s capital, Tehran.

Iran signed an agreement last year empowering U.N. experts to inspect its nuclear facilities at any time and without notice. On Friday, Iran suspended inspections until April, saying they conflicted with next week’s celebration of the Iranian New Year.

Rowhani, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, said Saturday the freeze on inspections was “a protest by Iran in reaction to the passage of the resolution.”

Iran, which insists its nuclear intentions are peaceful, threatened repeatedly over the past few days to reduce cooperation with the IAEA if its 35-nation board of governors came down hard on the Islamic republic.

The resolution praises Iran’s increased openness to inspections but “deplores” recent discoveries of uranium enrichment equipment and other suspicious activities Tehran had not revealed.

Chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei expressed confidence that his experts would soon be allowed into Iran.

“I’m pretty confident that Iran will understand that we need to go within the time scheduled, and the decision to delay the inspection will be reviewed and reversed within the next couple of days,” he told reporters.

Asked when inspectors might visit again, Rowhani replied: “It could be less than six weeks. It could be more than six weeks. We have not set a date.”

Kenneth Brill, the chief U.S. delegate to the meeting, condemned the move.

“This is a measure of their full cooperation — their postponing the very thing that they are called on to do by their obligations,” he told reporters.