Amano confirms Iran's cooperation within IAEA's verification scheme

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Sept 25, IRNA -- Secretary of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano confirmed Iran's participation in his agency's verification process.

On Thursday, Amano pushed back against critics questioning the wisdom of letting Iranian experts take samples meant to help determine whether their own country clandestinely worked in the past on atomic arms, saying he is convinced the process was faultless.

Amano's statements came less than a week after confirming that Iranians did the environmental sampling at a site where such alleged experiments took place.

Personnel from his International Atomic Energy Agency normally do the work of swiping equipment and sampling the soil and air at sites they suspect was used for hidden nuclear activities.

Noting that the Iranians were under stringent IAEA monitoring, Amano then said he was confident 'so far' that the samples were genuine.

He appeared to go further on Thursday, however. While declining to say how far his agency's laboratory analysis has gone, he said he is 'very sure that ... the samples are authentic.'

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