Iran to take Parchin military site samples with IAEA present - diplomats

The diplomats were familiar with details of a confidential arrangement between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog for inspections at the Parchin site, where some countries suspect nuclear weapons-related tests may have taken place.

Iran has denied that allegation, but agreed to accept comprehensive International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections of its suspect sites as part of the historic July deal in exchange for an easing of international sanctions.

An August report by the Associated Press, in its original version, said the agreement on Parchin suggested that IAEA inspectors would be barred from the site and would have to rely on information and environmental samples provided by Iranian technicians. The AP later published what it said was the text of an early draft of the agreement that remains unconfirmed.

The report was seized on by Republicans in the US Congress as proof that President Barack Obama's administration gave in to Iran on the sensitive issue of inspections to check on Tehran's suspected ambition to build a nuclear bomb.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano rejected the report as "a misrepresentation", though he declined to provide details of what some Republicans described as a "secret side deal" between Iran and the IAEA on Parchin. Amano said on Aug. 20 that the arrangements with Iran were technically sound.

The signed agreement between Iran and the IAEA has not been disclosed publicly.

But the Western diplomats said that while Iranians would be allowed to take the samples themselves, the agency's inspectors would be physically present and would have full access to their activity.

Neither the IAEA nor Iran's UN missions in New York or Vienna had an immediate response to queries about the Parchin inspection arrangement. Reza Najafi, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, said on September 10 that Iran will not permit leaks of details about its arrangements with the IAEA.