Iran continues to block United Nations weapons inspectors from accessing information from Iranian nuclear scientists and military sites, making it impossible to confirm claims from Tehran that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The U.S. and the European Union have said Iran’s cooperation with the U.N. in addressing evidence that Tehran conducted studies in the past on the development of atomic weapons is crucial to reaching a broader accord on the future of the Iranian nuclear program.
But Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, said Friday there has been almost no progress in resolving the outstanding allegations of weapons development, despite a year of negotiations with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani ’s government. [...]
The IAEA is seeking access to leading Iranian nuclear scientists who are believed to have been involved in nuclear-weapons research. The agency also is demanding access to Iranian research and military sites. Among them is a military base south of Tehran, called Parchin, where the IAEA and the U.S. believe atomic-weapons development occurred.
Iran so far has denied Mr. Amano’s investigators access to the scientists or the sites, despite Tehran’s insistence that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes. Iran also has said that the IAEA’s evidence of weapons work is based on fabricated intelligence.