IRAN TALKS STILL ON DESPITE ACTIVITY AT NUCLEAR SITE
▶ Satellite pictures reveal new buildings at Parchin complex as negotiators meet in Vienna
Efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal remained on track despite new evidence of building work at a military complex linked to Tehran’s banned weapons programme.
Satellite pictures showed new buildings at the Parchin explosives-testing complex that analysts say is part of a network of sites used to develop Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The pictures came to light as negotiators in Vienna, Austria, pored over the finer details of a project to bring the US back into the fold of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which former president Donald Trump left in 2018.
Iran, European backers of the deal and Russia all spoke optimistically of a potential agreement.
Iranian deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi spoke of a new understanding between the parties but said it would still be difficult to make a breakthrough. Negotiations have continued despite Tehran accusing Israel of attempting to scupper the talks with an operation against the Natanz nuclear site a week ago.
Tehran responded to the incident by increasing its uranium enrichment levels.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on Saturday that Iran had started enriching uranium to 60 per cent, an important step closer to weapons-grade levels of 80 to 90 per cent.
US President Joe Biden’s administration criticised Iran’s latest breach of the nuclear agreement but said that it was not a deal-breaker.
Attempts to ease regional tensions were made at the weekend, with Iraq becoming the centre of diplomatic efforts involving Jordan, Egypt and Iran.
The talks involving senior officials and chaired by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi “focused on reducing tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia”, a western diplomat told The National.
Iran has also sought international help to arrest a man wanted over the Natanz incident and who was said to have left the country only hours before what it described as an attack on the nuclear site.
State television identified him as Reza Karimi, 43, and said that Tehran had contacted Interpol for help to apprehend him.
Satellite images show that four new buildings have been constructed at Iran’s Parchin military complex, where explosives experiments related to nuclear weapons were conducted in the early 2000s.
The structures are surrounded by steep walls made of compacted earth to deflect explosions, intelligence consultancy group The Intel Lab said.
Military grade explosives are manufactured and tested at Parchin, which is about 30 kilometres south-east of Tehran. Analysts linked the site to other activities.
“Parchin complex is involved in research and development, the production of chemical weapons, laser technology for uranium enrichment, as well as high-explosive testing for nuclear weapons,” The Intel Lab said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency last visited Parchin in 2015 as part of its investigation into Iran’s nuclear activities under the terms of a deal with world powers that was intended to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.
Former US president Donald Trump withdrew from the deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018, but the Biden administration is seeking a return to it under new conditions.
In 2015, Iran told inspectors that Parchin was used to store chemicals, a claim disproved by IAEA analysis of samples from the site.
The IAEA was unable to find hard evidence of nuclear activity, although two weak traces of man-made uranium were found.
It concluded that there were “no credible indications of activities in Iran relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device after 2009” and no “credible indications of the diversion of nuclear material in connection with the possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme”.
Recent satellite imagery showed major refurbishments at the complex, leading some experts to suggest that Iran had tried to cover up evidence of nuclear activity.
In June, plumes of orange smoke were seen after an explosion at Iran’s Khojir missile production plant, near Parchin, caused a power cut.
Iranian officials released images of a gas tank with a hole in it as evidence that a leak caused the explosion.
But satellite imagery showed extensive damage to the site, making a gas leak an unlikely explanation, and analysts have not yet reached a consensus on the cause of the explosion.
Iran last week announced that it successfully increased uranium enrichment at its Natanz site to 60 per cent, at odds with its commitments under the nuclear deal, which Iran said became a void accord after the US withdrew in 2018.
Iran’s compliance with the deal is a prerequisite for the US returning to it and lifting Trump-era sanctions that damage Iran’s economy, US President Joe Biden said.
Iran said it could easily reverse nuclear enrichment escalations.