Nuke chief defends Iran work
He describes soil, air samples at military site as ‘authentic’
UNITED NATIONS — The head of the U.N. nuclear agency pushed back Thursday against critics questioning the wisdom of letting Iranian experts take samples meant to help determine whether their own country clandestinely worked in the past on atomic arms, saying he is convinced the process was faultless.
Yukiya Amano spoke while flying to New York for this week’s U.N. General Assembly, less than a week after confirming that Iranians did the environmental sampling at a site where such alleged experiments took place. Personnel from his International Atomic Energy Agency normally do the work of testing equipment and sampling the soil and air at sites they suspect was used for hidden nuclear activities.
Noting that the Iranians were under stringent monitoring from the nuclear agency, Amano said he was confident “so far” that the samples were genuine. While declining to say how far his agency’s laboratory analysis has gone, he said he is “very sure that … the samples are authentic.”
The alleged test of explosive triggers for a nuclear bomb at the Parchin military site is one of about a dozen suspected experiments linked to such a weapon that the nuclear agency has been trying to probe for more than a decade. Iran denies ever working on such arms and says its present nuclear program is meant only to generate power and for science and medicine.
But it is in Tehran’s interest to help work toward a final U.N. assessment of the allegations scheduled for Dec. 15. That report will feed into the larger nuclear deal reached between Iran and six world powers in July and help determine whether all sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program will be lifted.
Amano, who met President Hassan Rouhani and other senior Iranian officials in Tehran, said they are keen to wrap up the probe and “would like to further accelerate the process.”
Amano also said it was too early to draw conclusions from what Iranian media describe as a weekend courtesy visit by him to the building where the alleged experiments took place. Citing satellite imagery, the nuclear agency has expressed concern that what it describes as extensive renovations at the site over the years have diminished agency attempts to investigate the building for evidence of the alleged weapons work.
The visit was separate from the environmental sampling. Amano said he and a deputy had “not seen any equipment” that could be linked to the alleged tests during their visit, but added: “Renovation activities were ongoing.”