Iran Backtracks on Allowing U.N. Torture Probe

GENEVA – Iran has backtracked on a pledge to invite a U.N. torture investigator to visit the country.

Iranian officials in Geneva say they rescinded the invitation because Western countries used "poisonous language" at a U.N. debate Monday on the Islamic Republic's human-rights record.

Iran on Wednesday rejected 43 other recommendations made during the Human Rights Council's first review of its rights record.

They included ending discrimination against women, releasing political prisoners and stopping harassment of journalists and bloggers.

Chief Iranian delegate Mohammad Javad Larijani said the proposals were made by an "organized clique" of countries and that they are "very dangerous to the atmosphere" of the Human Rights Council.