Samples taken at Iran military site; no IAEA inspectors present: Official

The Iranian flag (R) and the logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Iranian experts have taken environmental samples from the Parchin military site near the capital, Tehran, without the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors being present, says an Iranian official.

“Iranian experts took environmental samples from specific locations at Parchin complex without the presence of the Agency’s inspectors,” said Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), in an interview with IRNA on Monday.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI)

 

The samples were taken in accordance with relevant directives and procedures, and were submitted to IAEA experts, Kamalvandi added.

He said the sample-taking followed recent talks between Iran and the IAEA on mutual cooperation within the framework of a “road map” agreed upon by both sides.

“With AEOI-IAEA cooperation continuing within the framework of the road map, IAEA experts traveled to Iran last week and held several technical and legal meetings to discuss the remaining questions and issues,” said the spokesman.

He said the meetings followed a “constructive” trend, and that the two sides agreed to wrap up their discussions by October 15 at the latest.

Two-day expert-level talks between Iran and the IAEA concluded in Tehran last Wednesday. The negotiations are slated to continue in late September.

Kamalvandi said on Sunday that IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano had visited the Parchin military site locatd 30 kilometers (19 miles) southeast of Tehran as a formality arranged during his brief stay in Iran.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano 

 

Iran has repeatedly denied Western allegations about secret nuclear activity at the site.

Iran and the P5+1 – the US, the UK, France, China and Russia plus Germany – reached an agreement dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the Austrian capital of Vienna on July 14.

On the same day, Ali Akbar Salehi  head of AEOI and Amano signed a road map for “the clarification of past and present issues.” As part of the road map, the IAEA is required to finish its investigations into Iran’s nuclear activities and submit a report to the agency’s board by December 15.


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