UN: Iran Meets Standards in Probe

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- The chief of the U.N. nuclear agency has acknowledged that it agreed to have Iranian experts take samples it wants to analyze for signs that Tehran might have worked on atomic arms. But it says that the probe meets strict agency standards.

Such sampling is usually done by experts of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency. But IAEA chief Yukiya Amano says that Iranians carried out that part of the probe at Parchin, where the agency suspects that explosive triggers for nuclear weapons might have been tested.

The transfer appeared to be part of a confidential draft agreement with the agency that allows Iran to gather its own samples. It wasn't immediately clear if IAEA experts were present during the sampling.

However, Amano said Monday that the procedure meets strict agency criteria. He says the IAEA confirms "the integrity of the sampling process and the authenticity of the samples."

(KA)