IAEA Group Seeks Access To Contentious Iranian Military Base
The delegation headed by Herman Nackaerts, the deputy head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has expressed hope that the group will be allowed to visit Parchin Military Base, a point of recent dispute with Iran.
The UN nuclear watchdog suspects that Iran might have used the base for nuclear testing, but Iran insists that it cannot allow inspection of the base because it has no link to its nuclear program, and inspection of a military base could pose security issues for the country.
ISNA reports: “The talks will most probably last one day behind closed doors. Currently, no visits to facilities and Iranian nuclear centres or other sites have been scheduled for the IAEA inspectors.”
The head of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, was in Tehran last May, but so far there has been no breakthrough in the nuclear talks.
The IAEA has said that this session will seek agreement on a “structured approach” to resolving the agency’s remaining concerns. It also stressed that it will try to obtain broader access to Iranian nuclear sites and the people working in that sector.
Iran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful, while the West has imposed widespread sanctions on Iran, claiming it is not convinced that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons.
