Iran Parchin Military Tour Given as Goodwill Gesture to Atomic Inspectors

Iranian journalist Emad Abshenass explained to Sputnik that the decision of the Iranian government to grant access to the Parchin military facility, despite not being required to do so, was a show of goodwill to the international community.

Iran decided to grant inspectors access to its Parchin military site to show goodwill towards those in the international community who continue to be skeptical of the country's intentions, an expert on Iranian political affairs told Sputnik.

"According to international law, Iran is not required to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] access to its military sites."

"The latest visit of Yukiya Amano took place exclusively because the IAEA was invited by the authorities of the Islamic Republic, and not at the insistence of the IAEA," Emad Abshenass told Sputnik.

"In Tehran it is hoped that this kind of step to meet the IAEA halfway will help to change the negative view towards Iran's nuclear program still held by some countries."

Abshenass, editor of the Iranian 'Iran Press' newspaper, explained that the atomic watchdog's requests to inspect the Parchin military site followed spurious reports, originating in Israel, the US and some other Western countries, that nuclear equipment was being held at the site.

The false claims roused Iran's suspicions that the IAEA's wish inspect the site was no more than an opportunity for its officials to spy on Iran's military facilities, under the auspices of a nuclear inspection. These suspicions led to inspectors being denied access to the facility, though they had previously inspected the site twice.

"The goal is to demonstrate to the director general personally the transparency of Iran's politics and dispel any remaining doubts on the part of the IAEA in relation to a so-called 'undeclared atomic program,'" explained Abshenass.

On Monday, Director General Yukiya Amano and his deputy Tero Varjoranta confirmed that no equipment for making nuclear weapons was found during their inspection of the Parchin military facility.

"There was no equipment in the building," said Amano at a press briefing, adding that the Iranian side assisted the atomic agency in taking environmental samples from the site for analysis. 

The results of the sample analysis will be discussed by Iran and the IAEA in the coming weeks, in the context of the Road-map process signed by the two sides in Vienna in July to clarify outstanding issues of Iran's nuclear program.