Iran’s role in nuclear probe meets standards — United Nations nuke agency

In an interview with The Associated Press Thursday, Yukiya Amano said he is convinced the process was faultless.

“Authentication by the agency of the samples was achieved through use of an established verification process”, Amano told reporters. The global Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Monday that Iran had turned over samples that the Iranians had themselves collected from the military site that IAEA inspectors haven’t been allowed to visit in a decade. The physical presence of trained, experienced inspectors, with the ability to investigate the building or site up close, is critical to detecting the best places to sample, particularly in the case of a country that has a history of violating its safeguards obligations. He declined to say whether IAEA personnel were at the site southeast of Tehran during the sampling. It is known that the process of taking samples was videotaped by the Iranians with IAEA direction and control.

The paper concluded by arguing that because of the weakness demonstrated in collecting the samples earlier this week, the IAEA must strengthen its inspections and make the secret terms of the agreement between the IAEA and Iran publicly available.

The Iranian foreign minister said on July 28 that Tehran and the European Union have agreed to revive stalled talks.

He appeared to be referring to the building where the agency suspects that weapons experiments were conducted in the past.

Late last month, an IAEA report indicating that Iran was in broad compliance with its nuclear commitments, but noting indications of construction activity at the Parchin site, was leaked to media outlets, including CNN. “There was no equipment in the building”, he said.

Amano’s one-day visit to Iran is part of an assessment due in December that will feed into the nuclear deal reached in July between Tehran and six world powers and will help to determine whether sanctions will be lifted. It would also undermine the credibility of the IAEA, whose chief responsibility is to determine what exactly happened in Parchin in order to fully assess the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear research prior the lifting of sanctions.

In August, the US State Department stated that as part of the agreement Iran would not be permitted to self-inspect.

Earnest said that as time goes forward, there will be “many opportunities” to show that the warnings of those who opposed the deal “are eventually disproven based on the way the agreement is implemented”.

Congressmen Mike Pompeo of Kansas, Peter Roskam of Illinois and Lee Zeldin of New York expressed their “grave concern” over what they called Iran’s right to “self-inspect”.

Iran had previously refused permission to enter Parchin, highlighting its military function and stressing the IAEA had already conducted inspections in 2005 that yielded nothing. Iran insists the program is entirely devoted to peaceful purposes like power generation and cancer treatment.

Mr Amano also addressed a 12-member committee set up by the Iranian parliament to examine the deal but the meeting was held behind closed doors.