IAEA shows images of suspected Iran nuclear clean-up

PanARMENIAN.Net - The UN nuclear watchdog showed a series of satellite images on Wednesday, Sept 5 that added to suspicions of clean-up activity at an Iranian military site it wants to inspect, Western diplomats said, but Tehran's envoy dismissed the presentation.

According to Reuters, the pictures, displayed during a closed-door briefing for member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), indicated determined efforts in recent months to remove any incriminating evidence at the Parchin site, the diplomats said.

In the latest picture, from mid-August, a building where the IAEA believes Iran carried out explosives tests - possibly a decade ago - relevant for nuclear weapons development had been shrouded in what appeared to be pink tarpaulin, they said.

The purpose of covering the buildings could be to conceal further clean-up work from overhead satellites, according to a U.S. think-tank, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).

The IAEA said in a confidential report last week that "extensive activities" undertaken at Parchin since February - including the demolition of some buildings and removal of earth - would significantly hamper its investigation there, if and when it was allowed access to the facility southeast of Tehran.

Iran, which denies Western accusations that it seeking to develop the capability to make nuclear bombs, says Parchin is a conventional military site.