This deal just gets crazier and crazier ... to put it mildly ...
President Obama's vaunted vows that accountability would be a key, non-negotiable aspect of his nuke deal with Tehran seems to have melted away with a report the United Nations is letting Iran act as its own watchdog – its own inspector – for a long-suspected nuclear arms development site.
Republicans quickly seized on the report, which first came to light from the Associated Press.
"President Obama boasts his deal includes 'unprecedented verification,'" said House Speaker John Boehner, AP reported. "He claims it's not built on trust. But the administration's briefings on these side deals have been totally insufficient – and it still isn't clear whether anyone at the White House has seen the final documents."
And House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce was even blunter: "International inspections should be done by international inspectors. Period," he said, AP reported.
The terms of the newly discovered secret side deal – the Parchin agreement, forged by the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran – would allow Tehran to used its own experts and technical advisers to search out evidence of nuclear arms development activities at one of the same site's it's been accused of developing nuclear arms technology, AP said.
Former IAEA director general Olli Heinonen said he couldn't think of any other deal ever made between other countries that allowed for such concessions, AP said.
Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dismissed the danger of the deal, though, saying simply she "truly believe[s] in this agreement," the news wire service reported.
Iran has turned away inspectors from its Parchin site for years. World powers, backed by satellite imagery, have long suspected the area is one of Iran's busiest spots for developing nuclear capability. And the IAEA itself has presented satellite images that indicate Iran has tried to sanitize the area, a suspicious behavior that underscores the notion of an ongoing cover-up.
The new revelations of the side deal could very well prove the final straw for congressional members who were already opposed to the Obama-backed nuclear deal with Iran. In recent days, key Democrats like Sens. Chuck Schumer and Robert Menendez have joined in teh Republican-led call to kill the deal, saying America has conceded too much to Iran and received too little in return.
President Obama's vaunted vows that accountability would be a key, non-negotiable aspect of his nuke deal with Tehran seems to have melted away with a report the United Nations is letting Iran act as its own watchdog – its own inspector – for a long-suspected nuclear arms development site.
Republicans quickly seized on the report, which first came to light from the Associated Press.
"President Obama boasts his deal includes 'unprecedented verification,'" said House Speaker John Boehner, AP reported. "He claims it's not built on trust. But the administration's briefings on these side deals have been totally insufficient – and it still isn't clear whether anyone at the White House has seen the final documents."
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| The Parchin site, as seen from satellite. |
The terms of the newly discovered secret side deal – the Parchin agreement, forged by the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran – would allow Tehran to used its own experts and technical advisers to search out evidence of nuclear arms development activities at one of the same site's it's been accused of developing nuclear arms technology, AP said.
Former IAEA director general Olli Heinonen said he couldn't think of any other deal ever made between other countries that allowed for such concessions, AP said.
Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dismissed the danger of the deal, though, saying simply she "truly believe[s] in this agreement," the news wire service reported.
Iran has turned away inspectors from its Parchin site for years. World powers, backed by satellite imagery, have long suspected the area is one of Iran's busiest spots for developing nuclear capability. And the IAEA itself has presented satellite images that indicate Iran has tried to sanitize the area, a suspicious behavior that underscores the notion of an ongoing cover-up.
The new revelations of the side deal could very well prove the final straw for congressional members who were already opposed to the Obama-backed nuclear deal with Iran. In recent days, key Democrats like Sens. Chuck Schumer and Robert Menendez have joined in teh Republican-led call to kill the deal, saying America has conceded too much to Iran and received too little in return.
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