IAEA Inspectors' Visit to Iran; Military Site Visits Not on Agenda

The Deputy Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization and a member of the internal JCPOA working group announced that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors will visit Iran on Tuesday, September 24, "in line with the Vienna nuclear agreement" and "as per usual procedure." According to the state news agency IRNA, Ali Asghar Zarean stated on Saturday, September 21, that "this visit is in accordance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and will proceed as in the past, with meetings and negotiations for further coordination and operational actions in the future." Mr. Zarean noted that visits to military sites are "not on the agenda for this round of negotiations with the IAEA." A week before the IAEA inspectors' visit to Iran, the agency indicated that the information provided by Iran regarding its past nuclear program has "ambiguities" that Tehran must clarify. The day after this report, Reza Najafi, Iran's representative to the IAEA, announced that Tehran is reviewing the agency's questions and will soon hold "technical sessions" in Tehran. Mr. Najafi also mentioned that the IAEA's report pertains to construction activities at the Parchin military site. Previously, on Thursday, September 5, the IAEA had reported in a confidential document that through satellite images, it observed vehicles, equipment, and possibly construction materials at one of the locations in Parchin. However, Iran's representative to the IAEA dismissed this report as "ridiculous." According to the "roadmap" signed on July 23, just hours before the official announcement of the comprehensive nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group, the two sides reached a "separate agreement" regarding inspections of the Parchin military site. Under this agreement, Iran and the IAEA agreed to resolve all "major issues related to the past and present" that remain unresolved by the end of 2015. Some American representatives and senators had previously called for access to the "roadmap," but Yukiya Amano, the IAEA Director General, emphasized that this agreement is confidential. Nevertheless, the Associated Press reported on August 19 that this agreement allows Tehran to use its own experts to inspect the Parchin facilities, a point that is denied in a report from another news agency.