Obama officials deny 'secret deals' in Iran nuclear pact
This is right up Barry's alley. I was concerned Congress wasn't getting the straight dope on the deal and it turns out to be the case. This is coming from the same guy who told us ObamaCare would be on C-Span. It wasn't. Whose partner in crime told us "You have to vote for it to find out what's in it." We we found out later, "You can keep your insurance period, no matter what." Wasn't part of the deal either.
Ask yourself this... if Pompeo and Corker didn't go to Vienna would we have known about this?
“That we are only now discovering that parts of this dangerous agreement are being kept secret begs the question of what other elements may also be secret and entirely free from public scrutiny,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said in a statement.
Please read the update below.
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A senior State Department official on Wednesday pushed back against Republican claims that the administration worked out secret bargains with Iran while hammering out the landmark nuclear agreement.
The charge was leveled Tuesday by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas). The two said they met with officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last weekend and said two side deals were made in addition to the formal Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
One agreement covers the inspection of Iran’s Parchin military complex, and the second detials how the IAEA and Tehran will resolve outstanding issues on possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear effort, according to Cotton and Pompeo, who are members of the Senate and House Intelligence panels.
State Department spokesman John Kirby rebutted the claim.
“There's no side deals. There's no secret deals between Iran and the IAEA that the P5+1 has not been briefed on in detail,” he said during a press briefing.
So this is pretty clear. There are no side deals right?
But read further.
Kirby acknowledged that lawmakers have expressed interest in two documents in addition to the JCPOA, annexes and related materials the department sent lawmakers Sunday.
“Congress has what we have, and what's being asked for here are IAEA documents or material that is not in our possession,” he said.
Wait a minute... there may some 'caveats' to the deal but we don't have it in our possession.
“These kinds of technical arrangements with the IAEA are a matter of standard practice, that they're not released publicly or to other states, but our experts are familiar and comfortable with the contents, which we would be happy to discuss with Congress in a classified setting,” Kirby added.
In other words...you caught us in a lie so now we'll be happy to discuss it with you.
On Tuesday, the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said they had fired off a letter requesting access to the reports.
Kirby's comments come as Secretary of State Kerry, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew give a classified briefing on the deal to House lawmakers.
The trio will also appear before the Foreign Relations panel Thursday to discuss the deal, part of the administration’s lobbying effort to sell the accord to a deeply skeptical Capitol Hill.
Kirby said there “will be ample opportunity” to address the issue during the meetings.
“These are issues between Iran and the IAEA, these technical agreements are never shared outside the state being questioned in the IAEA. But we have been briefed on them,” he said.
“And we are more than comfortable in a classified setting discussing that. Should that be of interest today, I am absolutely certain that Secretary Kerry would be willing to talk about, as well as Secretary Moniz,” according to Kirby.
Update
White House acknowledges ‘side’ deals between Iran, IAEA
National Security Adviser Susan Rice on Wednesday acknowledged the existence of so-called “side” agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Rice said the deals involve Iran accounting for past military uses of its nuclear program, but rejected GOP assertions that this represented “secret” side deals to the Iranian nuclear agreement. Rice said the documents between Iran and the IAEA are not public, but the administration has been informed on their contents and will share details with members of Congress in a classified briefing on Capitol Hill.
“We’re satisfied with them and we will share the contents of those briefings in full in a classified session with the Congress,” she told reporters. “So there's nothing in that regard that we know that they won't know.”
Republicans have been demanding to see the Iran-IAEA agreements and have criticized the administration for not yet making the public.
“That we are only now discovering that parts of this dangerous agreement are being kept secret begs the question of what other elements may also be secret and entirely free from public scrutiny,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said in a statement.
Congress is reviewing the Iran nuclear deal, which lifts sanctions on Tehran in exchange for its concessions on its nuclear program.
President Obama has hailed the deal as a major win for the United States that will keep Tehran from getting nuclear weapons and make the Middle East more safe. Critics argue it does too little to prevent Iranian aggression and that it could leave Israel open to an attack.
The talk of secret side deals could hurt administration efforts to defeat legislation aimed at undermining the deal, and Rice took aim at the comments.
She said it was “no secret” that Iran and the IAEA were negotiating an agreement on possible military-related nuclear activities.
She said this had always “been an issue between Iran and the IAEA” and was a sticking point in the talks.
Obama’s top national security adviser said all components of the deal the U.S. negotiated have been shared with Congress.
Besides agreeing to discuss the past military dimensions of its nuclear program, Iran struck a deal with the IAEA on inspections at the Parchin military base, one of the most sensitive sites discussed in the U.S.-led international talks.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and ranking member Ben Cardin (D-Md.) wrote a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry requesting that documents related to the deals be submitted to Congress.
Lawmakers have 60 days to review the agreement before voting whether to approve or reject the Iran deal.
Kerry, along with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, were on Capitol Hill Wednesday to hold classified briefings for members.
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The bottom line:
Instead of doing a deal with Iran we should be bombing them, especially their nuclear facilities.
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