IAEA Chief: No Need to Inspect Iran's Parchin Site Again
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said that there is no need to visit Iran’s Parchin military site for a second time, media reports said.
"I don't think so. We have already some samples," Amano told RIA Novosti Saturday, commenting on the necessity for a second visit to the Parchin military site.
He added that the recent visit and the sample-taking was useful and now the agency "can move forward."
Back on September 21, Amano visited some of the workshop locations at the compound that have been the subject of unfounded allegations, especially the process of the repair and reconstruction of the access road to the Mamlou Dam near Parchin.
After Amano’s visit, Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi announced that Iranian nuclear experts had carried out the sampling in Parchin military site.
“A number of environment samples were taken from specific points in Parchin (military) site only by Iranian experts and without the presence of (International Atomic Energy) Agency’s inspectors,” Kamalvandi said.
He further noted that the samples were collected according to the relevant standards and rules, and the samples were given to IAEA experts.
Later, the IAEA chief confirmed the integrity of the Parchin military site's sampling process, stressing that the samples were "authentic".
“In the case of Parchin, the Iranian side played a part in the sample-taking process by swiping samples. The Agency can confirm theintegrity of the sampling process and the authenticity of the samples, which were taken at places of interest to the Agency at the particular location in Parchin,” Amano said in a statement to reporters at the IAEA Press Room on September 22.
“Authentication by the Agency of the samples was achieved through use of an established verification process. The process was carried out under our responsibility and monitoring. The samples have been brought to Vienna and will be analyzed by Agency experts,” the head of the UN nuclear agency added.
He also said at the time that “significant progress” has been achieved in the implementation of a Road-map signed between Tehran and the IAEA.
On July 14, Iran and the IAEA signed a Road-map regarding the Islamic Republic’s nuclear work in the Austrian capital city of Vienna. The agreement was reached on the same day Iran and the Group 5+1 – the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – finalized the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna.
As part of the Road-map, the IAEA is required to finish its investigations about Iran’s nuclear activities and submit a report to the agency’s board by December 15.
