* IAEA shows Parchin images at briefing for diplomats
* West suspects Iran clean-up of illicit nuclear-linked
activity
* Iran dismisses allegations, says must get documents from
IAEA
VIENNA, Sep 5 (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog showed a
series of satellite images on Wednesday that added to suspicions
of clean-up activity at an Iranian military site it wants to
inspect, Western diplomats said, but Tehran's envoy dismissed
the presentation.
The pictures, displayed during a closed-door briefing for
member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
indicated determined efforts in recent months to remove any
incriminating evidence at the Parchin site, the diplomats said.
In the latest picture, from mid-August, a building where the
IAEA believes Iran carried out explosives tests - possibly a
decade ago - relevant for nuclear weapons development had been
shrouded in what appeared to be pink tarpaulin, they said.
"It was pretty compelling," a senior Western diplomat said
about the briefing by IAEA Deputy Director General Herman
Nackaerts and Assistant Director General Rafael Grossi.
"The last image was very clear. You could see the pink," the
envoy said.
The purpose of covering the building could be to conceal
further clean-up work from overhead satellites, according to a
U.S. think-tank, the Institute for Science and International
Security (ISIS).
The IAEA said in a confidential report last week that
"extensive activities" undertaken at Parchin since February -
including the demolition of some buildings and removal of earth
- would significantly hamper its investigation there, if and
when it was allowed access to the facility southeast of Tehran.
Iran, which denies Western accusations that it seeking to
develop the capability to make nuclear bombs, says Parchin is a
conventional military site.
Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, suggested
the activities "claimed to be made in the vicinity of these
so-called locations which are identified" by the IAEA had
nothing to do with the U.N. agency's investigation.
"Merely having a photo from up there, a satellite imagery
... this is not the way the agency should do its professional
job," he told reporters after the IAEA's briefing.
GIVE US THE DOCUMENTS, IRAN SAYS
"Everybody should be careful not to damage (the) credibility
of the agency," Soltanieh added.
Iran says it must first reach a broader agreement with the
IAEA on how the Vienna-based U.N. agency should conduct its
investigation into alleged nuclear bomb research in the Islamic
state before it can possibly be allowed access to Parchin.
Last week's IAEA report said "no concrete results" had been
reached in a series of high-level meetings with Iran over the
past eight months on such a framework accord.
Highlighting one of the main sticking points, Soltanieh said
Iran must see the documents which form the basis for the IAEA's
concerns of possible military dimensions to the Islamic
Republic's nuclear programme.
Diplomats say the IAEA is not able to hand over some of
those files - which it is believed to have received from foreign
intelligence services - because of confidentiality reasons.
"They have to deliver the documents," Soltanieh said, making
clear that Iran could not otherwise agree to a deal. "Without
documents we cannot prove whether this is baseless or not
baseless. We should have the documents."
The IAEA report also said Iran had doubled the number of
centrifuges at an underground uranium enrichment facility in the
last few months, in defiance of international demands that it
suspends the work.
Refined uranium can be used to fuel nuclear power plants,
which is Iran's stated aim, or provide the explosive core for a
nuclear warhead if processed further, which the West and Israel
suspect is Tehran's ultimate aim.
