Officials from the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, were scheduled on Tuesday to wrap up a three-day visit to Iran

Officials from the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, were scheduled on Tuesday to wrap up a three-day visit to Iran as US lawmakers signaled they intended to keep up the pressure on the Islamic republic by unveiling plans for yet more economic sanctions, on top of those already infuriating Iran.
  
Iran's foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, said on Monday his country was prepared to host the International Atomic Energy Agency officials for longer, "if they want" to extend their mission. It was not known if the offer was made officially to the IAEA team, whose visit was taking place entirely out of public view.
  
Tehran's position, repeated by Salehi, is to call on the European Union and the United States to "replace their policy of sanctions with interaction" with the Islamic republic.

US adamant on sanctions policy
  
But key US lawmakers on Monday said a senate banking commission would soon vote a text to punish Iran further with more economic and political sanctions. The legislation "sends a clear signal through strong measures that Iran must abandon its nuclear weapons program and its designs for the spread of international terror," said the top Republican senator on the panel, Richard Shelby.
  
The bill targets firms that have anything to do with helping Iran mine, produce or transport uranium anywhere in the world. It also requires US-listed companies to disclose if they or their affiliates could have run afoul of US sanctions on Iran by investing in energy investments, or through the sale of communications monitoring or surveillance technology. The bill would additionally deny US visas to Iranian students wanting to study in energy-related fields if it is deemed they plan to return to work in Iran's energy sector or nuclear program. And it would tighten sanctions on Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, including targeting "anyone who materially assists" the Guards.