Lawmakers opposed to the deal say the arrangement amounts to Tehran inspecting itself
An arrangement that allows Tehran to control and manage inspections of a military site believed to have been used for nuclear weapons development have raised extreme anger amongst Congressional critics of the Iran nuclear deal, The Wall Street Journal reported from Washington, Wednesday, August 19th.
Lawmakers charge the process amounts to allowing Iran to inspect itself.
“This is a very serious development and should concern every member of Congress who supports or is thinking about supporting this deal,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.).
The IAEA has long sought access to the Parchin military base south of Tehran in order to corroborate intelligence that allegedly showed Iran conducted tests on nuclear triggering devices there in the early 2000s.
The IAEA is due to complete a study of Tehran’s alleged weaponization work by December, as part of the July 14 accord. But the IAEA has acceded to an Iranian government demand that Tehran’s personnel control the sampling of soil at the site, according to congressional officials briefed on the process. Such tests could show whether fissile materials were used in simulated explosions.
The arrangement was first revealed last month following closed-door administration briefings with lawmakers.
Wednesday, the Associated Press cited an internal IAEA document that said the agency would also be barred from taking videos or photographs of the Parchin site, due to Iran’s claims that it is purely a military facility.
Leading U.S. lawmakers, including a Senate Democrat, said the IAEA’s agreement raised the risk Iran will be able to cover up its alleged weaponization work. Congress is set to vote next month on whether to approve or reject the Iran deal.
Iran last week sent written answers to the IAEA in response to questions about its alleged nuclear-weapons research, according to the agency.
The director general of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, reached an agreement with Tehran last month that seeks to resolve the issue by mid-December. The road map is supposed to include visits to suspect nuclear sites and interviews with leading Iranian scientists and military officers.
But in an interview this month, Mr. Amano acknowledged Tehran has so far refused to agree to provide access to many of the individuals believed to have been involved in the suspected testing at Parchin.
Mr. Amano has specifically been seeking to interview an Iranian officer and nuclear scientist named Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi. The U.S. intelligence community has referred to him as Iran’s Robert Oppenheimer, in reference to the American who oversaw the development of the atomic bomb during Word War II.
