IAEA Chief Visits Controversial Iran Site

The head of the U.N. atomic watchdog, Yukia Amano, Sunday visited Iran's controversial Parchin military site that has been suspected of being used for secret nuclear tests, an official said.

"Amano paid a formal visit to Parchin, and visited some workshops about which there has been some false information," said Behrouz Kamalvand, a spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which Amano heads, confirmed the trip to Parchin, located east of the capital Tehran where Western intelligence officials allege Iran conducted illicit nuclear activity with possible military dimensions.

Iran has said the accusations -- including that it carried out explosives tests at Parchin -- are groundless and based on malicious information provided by its enemies.

The IAEA said recently that satellite imagery had shown the presence of vehicles, equipment and probable construction materials at the site, which U.S. media reported as being suspicious. 

Iran however refuted the reports and said the work related to reconstruction of a road that had been damaged by flooding.

Iran previously refused IAEA access to Parchin, highlighting its military function and stressing that the U.N. agency had already conducted inspections in 2005 there that yielded nothing.

Amano was accompanied to Parchin by senior IAEA official Tero Varjoranta, who heads up the agency's safeguards division responsible for monitoring international agreements on nuclear matters, a statement issued in Vienna said.