Iran Says IAEA Can Visit Parchin Military Base

Iran says it will allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit its Parchin military base, as IAEA delegates have requested.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, told the Russia Today network: “Military bases all over the world have special regulations that the agency needs to consider.”

The IAEA had previously announced its profound disappointment that its inspectors were not allowed to visit the Parchin military base.

A high-ranking IAEA delegation visited Iran twice in recent weeks, with results that were deemed meagre by agency head Yukiya Amano, despite what he called the IAEA’s constructive efforts.

Soltanieh said, however, that this delegation had not comprised of actual IAEA nuclear inspectors and, from Iran’s perspective, they were there to establish the framework of future cooperation.

Fereydoon Abbasi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Agency, has also said he is powerless to approve such a visit to Parchin base, since only military officials have that authority.

In his interview on Russia Today, Soltanieh emphasized that Iran’s nuclear activities have nothing to do with the military or weapons production.