UN Nuclear Team Visits Iranian Site, Gets Samples Taken By Iranians

Iran says accusations from Western intelligence agencies – including that it carried out explosives tests at Parchin – are groundless and based on malicious information provided by its enemies.

Earlier, a top Iranian official said that IAEA inspectors had not taken part in the sampling procedure at Parchin.

In a 2006 report, the IAEA said its inspectors “did not observe any unusual activities in the buildings visited, and the results of the analysis of environmental samples did not indicate the presence of nuclear material”.

Nuclear inspectors who visited Iran didn’t find any equipment linked to nuclear-weapons research inside a building long suspected of holding a blast chamber, worldwide Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano said.

Iranian technicians took the samples and handed them to the IAEA, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran spokesman Behruz Kamalvandi was quoted in Iranian state media as saying.

Amano is in Iran to discuss the implementation of a secret roadmap meant to solve those issues, though critics have pointed to faults in some parts of the agreements between Iran and the IAEA that have come to light.

“Inside the building, we saw indications of recent renovation work”.

A final United Nations assessment is due in December, and that will feed into the larger July 14 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, helping to determine whether sanctions on Tehran will be lifted. Tehran has refused to allow inspections of its military sites as part of the nuclear deal, fearing foreign espionage.

The nuclear deal can not go ahead until the accusations about the past possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear programme are resolved.

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.

“Fortunately, the peacefulness of Iran’s nuclear program has been proved during the past years and IAEA’s monitoring and its unannounced inspections have verified it and stated that Iran has never deviated from its peaceful program”, he said, according to the statement. It is not clear whether there will be a vote or not.