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

For more than a decade Iran has forbidden the IAEA access to the Parchin military installation, where the United Nations nuclear watchdog suspects Iran carried out work on designs for detonator devices that could be used in a nuclear weapon and could fit in a ballistic missile warhead. The report is crucial to the implementation of a landmark agreement between Iran and world powers in July under which restrictions will be placed on Tehran’s nuclear energy programme in exchange for a lifting of sanctions.

Mr Amano held talks with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani as well as atomic agency chief Ali Akbar Salehi.

Amano, speaking a day after he visited Tehran and was unexpectedly granted access to Parchin, appeared to reiterate that capability while acknowledging Iran’s recent role.

Iran’s PressTV described Amano’s visit to Parchin as a “formality”, not an inspection.

Iran and the 5+1 reached a deal in July in Vienna, and there has been much speculation on whether the deal will result in improved relations between Iran and the U.S.

“Iranian experts took environmental samples from specific locations at Parchin complex without the presence of the agency’s inspectors”, Kamalvandi told Iran’s IRNA news agency.

IAEA officials have insisted their investigation is the worldwide community’s best chance to detail Iran’s past activities after years of stonewalling by Tehran.

The IAEA has come under criticism over a confidential agreement with Iran governing how inspections are conducted at Parchin.

At a news conference in Vienna on Monday, Mr Amano said they were able to inspect a building that the agency had previously only observed using satellite imagery.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano visited the country on Sunday, meeting with top Iranian officials and visiting the facility in question.

However, Amano said Monday that the procedure meets strict agency criteria.

The draft said that Iranian experts, monitored by video and still cameras, would gather environmental samples at the site and hand them over to the agency for analysis.

For President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party, the IAEA’s admission that Iran was allowed to take its own nuclear samples ought to be an embarrassment. He specified that in some circumstances the IAEA permits countries to participate in verification activities in ways that do not compromise the agency’s work.

The military site was a contentious issue between Iran and the world powers, where the West believed that the Islamic Republic carried out high-explosives testing for a nuclear warhead.

Sen. Ted Cruz has most recently argued that without the text of the alleged “side deals“, all necessary information has not been provided to lawmakers and the clock to begin the review period has not started. Late Sunday, a member of the committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said he expected parliament would approve the deal.