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November 06, 2011

Haaretz Lies About IAEA Inspections In Parchin

Repeating the last piece of U.S. propaganda about a "nuclear Iran", Haaretz lies about the history of IAEA inspections in Iran:

Iran is pursuing its nuclear weapons program at the Parchin military base about 30 kilometers from Tehran, diplomatic sources in Vienna say.
...
According to recent leaks, Iran has carried out experiments in the final, critical stage for developing nuclear weapons - weaponization. This includes explosions and computer simulations of explosions. The Associated Press and other media outlets have reported that satellite photos of the site reveal a bus-sized container for conducting experiments.

Parchin serves as a base for research and development of missile weaponry and explosive material.
...
As far back as eight years ago, U.S. intelligence sources received information indicating that the bunkers would also be suitable to develop nuclear weapons.
...
The Iranians rejected an IAEA request to visit Parchin, saying that IAEA rules permitted the organization's member states to deny such visits to military bases.

The last sentence is false and pure propaganda. Iran allowed two IAEA visit to Parchin in January 2005 and again in November 2005. The IAEA took environment samples there but found nothing that pointed to nuclear weapon research. Globalsecurity.org kept the records:

On 17 September 2004 IAEA head Muhammad El Baradei said his organization had found no sign of nuclear-related activity at the Parchin site in Iran, which several US officials had said might be tied to secret nuclear weapons research. "We are aware of this new site that has been referred to," he said. "We do not have any indication that this site has any nuclear-related activities. However, we will continue to investigate this and other sites, we'll continue to have a dialogue with Iran." El Baradei also dismissed allegations that he had supressed information about Parchin in his latest report on inspections in Iran.

On 5 January 2005 Mohamed El Baradei said "we expect to visit Parchin within the next days or a few weeks." Iran allowed IAEA inspectors to visit the Parchin military site in January 2005 in the interests of transparency following the allegations of secret nuclear weapons related activity, but the visit was limited to only one of four areas identified as being of potential interest and to only five buildings in that area.

On 1 March 2005 Iran turned down a request by the IAEA to make a second visit to the Parchin military site, which has been linked in allegations to nuclear weapons testing. The IAEA was finally allowed access to the Parchin facility in November 2005. The IAEA reported in 2006 that they did not observe any unusual activities in the buildings visited at Parchin, and the results of the analysis of environmental samples did not indicate the presence of nuclear material at those locations. No further mention of Parchin as a suspected nuclear site had been made by the IAEA as of July 2008.

We can expect more such obvious lies in the coming weeks as the White House builds up its propaganda campaign for more sanctions on Iran.

Posted by b on November 6, 2011 at 12:33 UTC | Permalink

Comments

You have any info about IAEA inspections in Israel. military o no military?

Posted by: an idiot | Nov 6 2011 12:58 utc | 1

@an idiot - As Israel is not a member of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty the IAEA does, to my knowledge, no inspections in Israel.

Posted by: b | Nov 6 2011 14:04 utc | 2

Good catch. The media has pretty much revealed every detail of the stunning new IAEA report, which amounts to nothing new. It looks like a rehash of the Laptop of Death from a few years ago, combined with more vague and generalized accusations. Another article by Haaretz captured it well:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/un-report-to-reveal-evidence-of-iran-s-nuclear-weapons-program-1.393823

But the newest compilation of suspected weapons-related work is significant in substance and scope. The diplomats say they will reveal suspicions that have not been previously made public and greatly expand on alleged weapons-related experiments that have been published in previous reports on Iran's nuclear activities.

The old stuff is all "expanded" (rehashed) accusations of experiments (not of design or construction) and the new stuff is all "suspicions."

Posted by: Bill | Nov 6 2011 14:13 utc | 3

my question is, who if anyone, is leaking these reports from the IAEA? What kind of journalist writes about something that may happen? or will the IAEA indeed report this? I can find no information regarding a request to Iran for an onsite inspection. so how can Iran deny a request that has not even been made? a real newspaper would back up a serious claim like this with some supporting evidence.

it is indeed sad that there are such low standards for newspapers...even Haaretz.

one could guess that someone is simply recycling the same old scaremongering they did back in 2004 and 2005.

Posted by: dan of steele | Nov 6 2011 14:19 utc | 4

Left a comment on Haaretz's website. Doesn't look like they are accepting any new comments at this time. I am curious if they accept comments about their accuracy of their reporting.

Posted by: edwin | Nov 6 2011 15:34 utc | 5

"my question is, who if anyone, is leaking these reports from the IAEA?"

I imagine that it was somebody acting on behalf of the Japanese (TEPCO trained) stooge that the US managed to install to take the place of el Baradei. He is part of a matched pair the other half of which consists of Ban Ki Moon, who issues PR material for the State Department, justifying, for example, the attack on Libya.

Posted by: bevin | Nov 6 2011 19:15 utc | 6

When it comes to the Hasakah lies, I am pretty certain the "former senior diplomat" is John Bolton and the "former UN inspector" is Olli Heinonen. Any one with any better suggestions?

Posted by: blowback | Nov 7 2011 0:41 utc | 7

"former UN inspector" = David Albright

Posted by: b | Nov 7 2011 5:40 utc | 8

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