U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), the House majority whip, released a statement on Wednesday expressing his concerns about side deals made with the Iran nuclear agreement.
“Iran, in an unusual arrangement, will be allowed to use its own experts to inspect a site it allegedly used to develop nuclear arms under a secret agreement with the U.N. agency that normally carries out such work,” Scalise said.
“These revelations expose even deeper concerns about President Obama’s dangerous deal with Iran. When I challenged President Obama to disclose the details of any secret side deals with Iran, he denied any such deals existed despite his own negotiator’s acknowledgement to the contrary.
“Now we are learning details of a deeply troubling secret side deal — one which puts the Iranian regime in charge of inspecting their own former nuclear site — from media reports,” Scalise said. “Iran already has proven they can’t be trusted, and these new revelations show that President Obama is willing to trust the same Iranian regime that is chanting ‘Death to America’ to inspect their own nuclear facilities, rather than for inspections to be carried out by an impartial third party. This is worse than putting the fox in charge of the hen house because it ultimately involves Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon that can be sent to destroy American cities.
“President Obama needs to finally disclose to the American people what is in these secret side deals and give us all the facts before Congress votes next month on this issue that is so critical to America’s national security,” Scalise said. “These new facts only underscore the dangerous concessions the administration made to Iran in their desperate push to cut a deal at any cost. I will continue to do everything in my power to stop this dangerous deal with Iran from becoming a reality.”
Scalise has represented Louisiana’s First District in the House since 2008. Born in New Orleans in 1965, Scalise served for four months in the Louisiana State Senate and 12 years in the Louisiana House. Scalise was educated at Louisiana State University and serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee.