TEHRAN: Iran will not give UN nuclear inspectors access to a military base outside Tehran that they have been seeking to visit since 2005, Defence Minister Hossein Dehgan said yesterday.
Dehgan’s comments come just two days before a deadline for Iran to give its response to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over historic allegations of a military dimension to its nuclear research.
“The agency carried out several visits to Parchin (before 2005), took samples and found nothing untoward,” Dehgan told the ISNA news agency. “There is therefore no reason for new access to Parchin as nothing new has come up since the last inspections.” IAEA inspectors have been given access to a string of declared nuclear sites as part of an interim nuclear deal reached with the major powers last November.
Access to Parchin was not agreed under the terms of that accord but the IAEA has been seeking to visit the base as part of its mission to answer all concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme, past and present.
IAEA director Yukiya Amano, who visited Tehran earlier this month, said in June that access to Parchin was essential for the watchog to be able to certify Iran’s nuclear programme as peaceful.
AFP
