BICOM

Israel reportedly demanded yesterday that undisclosed agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) be published, in order to assess the veracity of claims that Iran is being permitted to essentially self-inspect the nuclear facility at Parchin.

A long-term agreement between Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) was concluded last month, which will likely see international sanctions lifted in return for a slowdown in Iranian nuclear development over the next decade. Critics of the deal have expressed deep concern that the accord does not include sufficient mechanisms to ensure Iranian compliance, especially a complex 24-day process from request to inspection of a site.

These concerns were compounded by an AP report earlier this week, which said that the IAEA has agreed that international inspectors will not be permitted access to the Parchin site and instead will rely on soil samples, photographic and video evidence supplied by Iranian officials. Iran has denied numerous requests to inspect Parchin for almost a decade where it is suspected Iran has previously carried out tests related to nuclear weapon detonation.

Yesterday, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said that the report “misrepresents the way in which we will undertake this important verification work” and that, “The arrangements are technically sound.” Meanwhile, US State Department spokesman John Kirby commented that there is “no way” that the IAEA would concede oversight to Iran, telling Reuters “That is not how the IAEA does business.”

However, with the IAEA-Iran agreement still unpublished, Israeli leaders remain unconvinced. According to Haaretz and Times of Israel, an unnamed official said, “We’ve seen Amano’s denial, but there’s only one certain way to clarify things – the world powers and IAEA must release all the secret appendices to the nuclear agreement with Iran.” The official is said to have added, “The more we learn of the agreement the more we see that our concerns are justified,” regarding the nature of the accord’s verification measures.