Description

In September 2004, ABC News broke the story that the Parchin military complex, located approximately 30 km southeast of Tehran, was possibly being used for high explosives testing relevant to nuclear weapons research. ABC News reportedly learned that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had privately asked Iran to visit the facility but that Iran had rebuffed the request. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) publicly released the first satellite images of the military site. In November, the National Council Resistance of Iran (NCRI) alleged that tunneling at Parchin was being used to conceal nuclear weapons-related activities, including the construction of a center for laser enrichment.

As a result of information obtained by the IAEA in the early 2000s regarding high explosives testing at Parchin, Iran eventually permitted IAEA inspectors access to the site on two occasions in 2005. Following those visits, the IAEA reported that its inspectors did not observe any unusual activities in the buildings visited, as suggested by satellite imagery. Moreover, the analysis of environmental samples did not uncover anything of relevance.

In November 2011, the IAEA reported that it had received other credible information that Iran had constructed a large explosives containment vessel in which to conduct hydrodynamic experiments at Parchin in 2000. The location believed to contain the building which houses the explosives vessel was not among the areas visited by IAEA inspectors in 2005. According to the IAEA, "A building was constructed [in 2000] around a large cylindrical object at a location at the Parchin military complex. A large earth berm was subsequently constructed between the building containing the cylinder and a neighbouring building, indicating the probable use of high explosives in the chamber."

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