IAEA chief Yukiya Amano visits Parchin military site in Iran

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano has visited the Parchin military site in Iran as a formality arranged during his brief stay in the country.

The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said that Amano on Sunday paid a visit to the military site.

“In this tour, Yukiya 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, which has went down in a landslide due to recent rainfall,” Behrouz Kamalvandi said.

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

In remarks marking a deviation from past claims in the US about Parchin, the US Department of State on August 27 acknowledged that the site is a “conventional” military facility.

“I think it’s important to remember that when you’re talking about a site like Parchin, you’re talking about a conventional military site, not a nuclear site,” US State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

Kamalvandi added that, apart from meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Amano has also met with his host, AEOI chief Ali Akbar Salehi. The UN nuclear chief has traveled to Tehran at the head of a delegation on a one-day trip upon an invitation by Salehi. Amano also met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The AEOI spokesman said that, per a request by Iranian lawmakers, arrangements were also made for Amano to participate in a session of the Iranian parliamentary committee to review the recent agreement between Iran and the P5+1.

Roadmap, JCPOA discussed

In a statement on Amano’s visit, the IAEA said the UN nuclear agency chief’s discussions with high-level Iranian officials focused on the “continued implementation of the Road-map to resolve all past and present outstanding issues.”

“As part of the implementation of the Road-map, the Director General visited the site of Parchin, together with the Head of the Department of Safeguards, Tero Varjoranta,” the statement added.

In his meetings with high-level Iranian officials, Amano also discussed issues pertaining to the verification and monitoring of nuclear-related measures under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the statement said.

Iran and the P5+1 – the US, the UK, France, China, Russia and 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, Salehi 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 about Iran’s nuclear activities and submit a report to the agency’s board by December 15.

After signing the road map, Amano said it “sets out a clear sequence of activities over the coming months, including the provision by Iran of explanations regarding outstanding issues. It provides for technical expert meetings, technical measures and discussions, as well as a separate arrangement regarding the issue of Parchin [site].”