Iran has responded to the accusations made by a U.S. institute that Tehran is cleaning up its Parchin military base in order to rid it of nuclear residue, saying that nuclear activities are “not washable.”
The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) announced this week that the analysis of a satellite picture of the Parchin Military Base in Iran suggests that Iranian authorities may be washing away evidence of nuclear activity at the facility.
ISNA reports that Ramin Mehmanparast, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said on Wednesday: “This institute is somewhat inexperienced. If they had a bit more experience, they would know that nuclear activities, especially in the manner that they suggest, cannot be cleaned away, and they have played a joke on our people.”
Parchin is a region in the southeastern part of Tehran Province, and the International Atomic Energy Agency is interested in inspecting a military base there because it has received some intelligence that Iran might be running nuclear tests at the facility.
Ali Asghar Soltaneih, the Iranian envoy to the IAEA, said earlier: “Military centres in all countries are under particular regulations, and the agency needs to abide by them.” He maintained that Iran will allow IAEA inspectors to visit Parchin once a framework for such a visit has been agreed upon.
Soltanieh stressed once more that Iran’s nuclear activities are peaceful and Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons.
Fereydoon Abbasi, the head of Iran’s Nuclear Agency, has said, however, that visiting Parchin does not fall under his jurisdiction, and military authorities must agree to the visit.
