IAEA Inspectors to Visit Iran Tuesday

IAEA inspectors will visit Iran on Tuesday as part of their investigation into the alleged past activities related to nuclear weapons at Parchin military complex, 30 km (19 miles) south of Tehran. The investigation is part of the nuclear deal, JCPOA, signed on 14 July between Iran and P5+1 and approved by the UN Security Council. IAEA has said it will conclude its investigation by 14 October, and will complete its final report on the subject by 15 December. The implementation process of the nuclear accord cannot begin before the IAEA report.

Reuters reported today that as part of a side agreement between Iran and the IAEA, the agency’s inspector alongside the Iranian scientists will visit Parchin to take samples from inside the buildings where the nuclear weaponization work was suspected to have taken place. It was not clear if the taking samples at Parchin will occur during Tuesday’s IAEA visit to Tehran or on a later date.

“The IAEA will be present when the Iranians take the samples at Parchin. This approach to managed access is something that’s fairly standard in the IAEA toolbox,” a Western diplomat knowledgable of IAEA work in Iran said. (Reuters, 12 September)