Reports this week that Iran has started submitting self-collected samples from its Parchin military complex to the International Atomic Energy Agency elicited calls of concern from U.S. Reps. Peter Roskam (R-IL), Lee Zeldin (R-NY) and Mike Pompeo (R-KS).
The lawmakers said this is proof that the Iran nuclear agreement, negotiated by the Obama administration, defied the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, which requires the president to submit any “side agreements” negotiated between “Iran and any other parties” to Congress before any statutory sanctions are lifted.
“This report appears to confirm our grave concern that the Iran-IAEA side agreements permit Tehran to self-inspect its own nuclear sites,” the legislators stated. “Without access to these documents, it’s impossible to verify that necessary mechanisms are in place to ensure Iran will abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons. This is why, until the president complies with the law and provides the side agreements to Congress, we must keep the sanctions regime in place.”
The reports match information coming from the Associated Press, which stated that one of the two Iran-IAEA side agreements – which were never submitted to Congress for review – allows the Iranian government to conduct important elements of what should be independent, international inspections at their own site of Parchin—a location in which Iran has allegedly tested weapon-style detonators in the past.