VIENNA, Nov 2: Iran has allowed UN nuclear inspectors to visit the sensitive military site of Parchin for a second time as it boosts cooperation to ward off a possible referral to the UN Security Council, diplomats said on Wednesday.
Ollie Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s deputy director general for safeguards, and two other IAEA inspectors ‘went on Tuesday to Parchin’, a diplomat close to the UN watchdog said.
The inspectors took ‘environmental samples’, which are swipes to see if traces of radioactive particles can be found that would prove the presence of nuclear material.
“If there is any inconsistency (nuclear particles) found, then the IAEA would have to raise the matter with Iran,” the diplomat said.
Visits to sites like Parchin are beyond nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty safeguards requirements, which are limited to inspecting sites where there is sure to be nuclear material.
Washington has voiced concern the Iranians may be testing high-explosive charges with an inert core of depleted uranium at Parchin.—AFP
