THIS IS MADNESS – AT 10:25 A.M. ET:  They use a lot of reassuring lingo, but it's madness just the same.  From AP:

VIENNA — The chief of the UN nuclear agency insisted Monday that a probe of a suspected nuclear weapons research site in Iran does meet strict agency standards, while acknowledging that Iranian experts provided samples from the site for analysis.

Such sampling is usually done by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s own experts. But IAEA chief Yukiya Amano told reporters 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 samples, on which no details were given, were taken under “established procedures,” Amano said, noting that “significant progress” was being made in its long-running probe that Iran had sought to develop nuclear weapons in the past.

The arrangement was first revealed in confidential draft agreement between the sides seen last month by The Associated Press. The draft said that Iranian experts, monitored by video and still cameras, would gather environmental samples at the site and hand them over to the agency for analysis.

Iran’s atomic energy agency spokesman, Behrouz Kalmandi, said IAEA experts were not physically present during the sampling. But Amano said the procedure meets strict agency criteria that ensure “the integrity of the sampling process and the authenticity of the samples.”

COMMENT:  How could this joke meet "strict agency criteria"?  If the Iranians have nothing to hide, why would they bar UN inspectors from the actual collection of samples?

This looks very bad.  Looks like the fix is in.

September 21, 2015