ISIS has identified in commercial satellite imagery a building on the Parchin site in Iran that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) wants to visit because it contains, or used to contain, a high-explosive test chamber (see figure 1). The building is located on a relatively small and isolated compound within the Parchin military site and has its own perimeter security wall or fencing. A berm can be seen between this building and a neighboring one, which is consistent with a description of the compound in the November 8, 2011 IAEA Safeguards Report. The compound is located more than four kilometers away from high-explosive related facilities also at the Parchin site which the IAEA visited in 2005 (see figure 2). 1
The IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano recently noted that the IAEA has “information that that some activity is ongoing” at the Parchin site.2 When asked if he was concerned that Iran was cleansing the site, Amano said that the “possibility is not excluded…” and that “we have to go there.” If Iran is engaging in clean up work to hide evidence at the Parchin site then it could be occurring inside this building as well. Thus, the IAEA deserves international support to visit this site without delay to inspect the inside of this building and other locations in Parchin as well.
In the November 8, 2011 Safeguards Report , the IAEA described evidence, including satellite imagery, indicating that Iran built the large explosive test chamber at the Parchin site and used it to conduct hydrodynamic experiments in the early 2000s, possibly related to the development of nuclear weapons. The IAEA has evidence that test chamber was placed at Parchin in 2000 and that a building was subsequently constructed around it.
The Associated Press has reported that satellite imagery in early November 2011 and satellite imagery from more recently shows increased activity at the Parchin site.4 It is not clear if this reported activity is occurring specifically at this compound, or at other areas at the Parchin site.
Hat tip to Challah Hu Akbar, who keeps getting better and better. He found this location on Google Maps so you can pan and zoom. It is a pretty remote area.
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See also CNN and Atlantic Wire.
Don't look at Juan Cole, though, because he's convinced that secret nuclear activity in military zones in Iran are completely innocuous. Iran's Supreme Leader said so himself - at least this decade.