The Results of Sampling from Parchin are Important, Not the Visit Itself

Initially, news of a ceremonial visit was published. Yukiya Amano, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), managed to enter the military facilities at Parchin in Tehran and even one of its buildings, which had previously only been monitored via satellite. However, as the representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the IAEA stated, Mr. Amano and his accompanying delegation had no equipment, not even mobile phones, with them. The next news, which was among the most controversial discussions following Iran and the world powers' agreement on the nuclear deal, was the sampling from the Parchin facilities by Iranian specialists and the delivery of the samples to the agency's inspectors, who, according to Iranian officials, were not allowed to enter Parchin. Now, as Mr. Amano stated in his announcement, with these actions, the agency and Iran have entered the most important phase of the roadmap they agreed upon over two months ago. In this regard, Radio Farda sought the opinion of Mark Hibbs, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment in Berlin, which you can read below. Mr. Hibbs, what is your assessment of Yukiya Amano's visit to the Parchin facilities? Do you see it merely as a ceremonial visit and a symbolic gesture? What matters is the outcome of these visits. If Mr. Amano's trip and that of his deputy for safeguards was only to show that everything is progressing according to the roadmap, but yields no results, then this will not satisfy those who want everything in the agreement to proceed timely and orderly. However, the fact that the Director General of the agency and his deputy have gone to Iran and followed up on this matter with Iran may indicate that the agency is deeply aware of its commitments based on safeguards and also under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and knows that if issues are to be effectively resolved, it must be aware of and respect specific processes, including sampling, and that no part of the verification chain should be lost, and the agency should have access to all the information it needs to ultimately determine whether nuclear materials have been used at the military facilities in Parchin or not. The spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran stated that this sampling was conducted by Iranians and that agency inspectors were not present at the site. The agency also confirmed in a statement it released that the sampling was conducted by Iranians and did not mention whether agency inspectors were present or not. This has been a highly contentious issue in recent weeks. The question is what avenues the agency had for monitoring the sampling and how it can ensure the accuracy of the samples? Under normal circumstances, the IAEA goes to the country in question and conducts the sampling. However, it is also normal, as in the case of Iran, for the country to conduct the sampling itself and deliver it to the agency inspectors. This happens for various reasons, including fears of contamination, and is not unusual at all. The most important issue is that this process must be carried out in a manner that respects the agency's laws and regulations. The samples taken must be credible and usable, and the agency must be able to ensure this, which is a very sensitive issue and must be a matter of agreement between the country in question and the agency. Mark Hibbs. It is possible that Iran may, at some point, provide the international community with information on how the sampling process was conducted, but the agency is not allowed to disclose this information due to its confidentiality, and despite the noise we have heard in recent weeks against the agency and the U.S. government, the decision to disclose this process will be with Iran. Why might Iran not want to publicly inform about this information and the sampling process that took place in Parchin? There are reasons that lead Iran to this conclusion not to disclose this matter. Among them are that there are hardliners within Iran who have opposed the current nuclear agreement and roadmap. There are military personnel who have said from the beginning that they will not allow visits to any military facilities, including Parchin, and if the agency has indeed been able to enter Parchin as it claims and is cooperating with Iran to resolve issues, it is not surprising that the Iranian government does not want to publish more information in this regard, especially in a situation where this nuclear agreement has been highly controversial in both Iran and the U.S. and is a very sensitive issue.