New satellite images appear to confirm Iran cover-up at high explosive test site
ISIS report says pictures contain evidence of earth moving machinery at Parchin, which Iran has insisted will remain off-limits to Western inspectors
Recent satellite imagery reveals that Iran has been persisting in its efforts to scrub clean any evidence of high explosive experiments in the Parchin military complex, according to a report released Wednesday by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
The report noted that the tests Iran is suspected of trying to conceal are “pertinent to the manufacturing of nuclear weapons.”
The images were said to contain evidence of earth-moving machinery near a demolished building suspected of having contained a high explosive testing chamber. Roads that previously led to several of the site’s buildings were no longer visible “due to machinery traffic or earth removal,” the report said.
The site at Parchin has long been a source of concern for the international community and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Tehran has turned down repeated IAEA requests to inspect the site, and on May 25 the IAEA announced that “the buildings of interest to the Agency are now subject to extensive activities that could hamper the Agency’s ability to undertake effective verification.”
On June 10, Iranian MP Evaz Heidarpour lashed out at IAEA inspectors, calling them “Western spies,” and maintaining that Iran would never grant access to the Parchin site.
“The US and West are seeking to find access to our military sites but the representatives of the people will not allow our military sites, which have nothing to do with nuclear activities, to be inspected,” Heidarpour told the semi-official Mehr news agency.
The ISIS report came a day after nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 nations in Moscow were suspended indefinitely. Officials involved in the talks from Western nations acknowledged huge differences between the two sides but insisted the diplomatic track had not been derailed.
Strong comments by Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius of France, one of the countries at the table in Moscow, reflected Western frustration. He spoke of “the large gap between the two sides,” and warned that “sanctions will continue to be toughened” to pressure Tehran into a nuclear compromise.
Senior Iranian parliamentarian Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini criticized the P5+1 for not seriously trying to find common ground with Tehran, according to Fars News.
AP contributed to this report.
