Iran Focus: Vienna, June 15 A briefing by the United Nations nuclear watchdog on the progress of its work in Iran lent
credence to revelations by an Iranian opposition group back in November that Iran continues to hide critical information on its controversial nuclear program. Officials at the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency have informed diplomats that Iran had not given access requested by the IAEA to the Lavizan and Parchin military sites, where weaponization work is suspected. Iran Focus
Vienna, June 15 A briefing by the United Nations nuclear watchdog on the progress of its work in Iran lent credence to revelations by an Iranian opposition group back in November that Iran continues to hide critical information on its controversial nuclear program.
Officials at the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency have informed diplomats that Iran had not given access requested by the IAEA to the Lavizan and Parchin military sites, where weaponization work is suspected.
Lavizan-Shian is a military site in northwest Tehran and Parchin is a sprawling military complex south of the capital. Both sites were revealed last year by the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran as being home to continuing clandestine nuclear activities by the theocratic regime.
Western diplomats in Vienna also said the IAEA had also requested but been denied access so far to interview key officials such as Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a Revolutionary Guards brigadier general who has worked at Lavizan.
In November the NCRI released the names of nuclear experts with ties to Irans powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, whom they said were in charge of clandestine activities in Lavizan II. The group had revealed Lavizan II as a newly-built replacement for another nuclear site in Lavizan-Shian, which was dismantled and razed after earlier revelations by the NCRI brought it under international scrutiny.
The French news agency, AFP, reported in November that the NCRI revealed the names of five top experts involved in what it described as Tehrans secret nuclear weapons program. They were identified as Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Fereydoon Abbasi, Mansoor Asgari, Mohammad Amin Bassam and Majid Rezazadeh.
“We think interviews with these people are essential to get to the bottom of this thing,” AFP quoted a senior NCRI official as saying.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the 62-year-old director general of the IAEA, told the agencys 35-member Board of Governors that Iran had failed to sufficiently answer outstanding questions about its enrichment activities.
ElBaradei told the Board of Governors that the IAEA had continued to press for additional documentation on nuclear-related equipment made available to Iran from third parties, as well as for information on associated technical discussions between Iran and intermediaries in the procurement network.
Iran has provided some additional documentation and information, which are not yet sufficient to answer several remaining questions, he said.
Deputy Director General for Safeguards in the IAEA, Pierre Goldschmidt, is expected to provide further details in the next two days.
