Think-tank: Iran covering building IAEA wants to visit
A US think-tank published satellite imagery on Friday
which it said showed "pink colored material" covering a building at a
sensitive military site in Iran which UN nuclear inspectors want to visit.
The Institute for Science and International Security
(ISIS) said the tarp - at the Parchin military complex - might be an attempt to
conceal alleged clean-up work there at a time when Iran is under growing
international pressure to open up its disputed nuclear program to scrutiny.
The images were consistent with a Reuters story on
Thursday, which cited diplomatic sources as saying a brightly-colored tent-like
structure now covered the building.
The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) believes
that explosives tests relevant to the development of nuclear weapons were
conducted in a steel chamber in the building, possibly a decade ago, and wants
to go there to search for evidence.
The IAEA pressed Iran again in talks on Friday to address
concerns about suspected nuclear weapons research in the Islamic state,
repeating requests for access to Parchin, but their meeting ended without an
agreement.
In recent months, Western diplomats have cited satellite
pictures showing extensive sanitization efforts at the site in what they
describe as an apparent attempt to remove any evidence of illicit nuclear
activity.
Iran, which denies Western allegations that it is seeking
a nuclear weapon capability, says Parchin is a conventional military facility
and has dismissed allegations about it as "ridiculous."
ISIS, which tracks Iran's nuclear program closely, said
commercial satellite imagery it had obtained from Aug. 15 "clearly shows
the suspected high explosive test building covered in a pink-colored
material."
Citing experts it had consulted, it said the size of the
building had increased and that it believed that a covering tarp was supported
underneath by scaffolding, adding that similar activity appeared to be taking
place at a nearby building.
"The purpose of covering the buildings could be to
conceal further clean-up activity from overhead satellites or to contain the
activity inside," ISIS said.
"Alternatively, tarps could provide a cover for the
demolition of the buildings, or portions of them, while also containing the
spread of potentially contaminated debris," it added.
Iran says it must first agree a broader framework deal
with the IAEA on how the agency should conduct its probe into suspected nuclear
weapons research in the country before possibly allowing inspectors access to
Parchin, a sprawling complex southeast of the capital Tehran.
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