Iran nuclear deal faces obstacles in US Congress.
 Iranian technicians work at the Isfahan nuclear research facility, located 420km south of the capital Tehran. (Source: AFP/VNA) |
In a move reflecting the controversy and skepticism within the U.S. surrounding the nuclear deal recently signed by the P5+1 group (comprising the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany) with Iran, several Republican lawmakers have called on the Obama administration to provide more documentation related to the agreement, which is seen as "historic."
According to a press release from two powerful Republican lawmakers, Representative Mike Pompeo and Senator Tom Cotton, cited by a TTXVN correspondent in Washington, they traveled to Vienna, Austria, on July 17.
During the meeting, officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that two separate agreements signed between Iran and the IAEA, as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), are classified documents and are not permitted to be disclosed to other countries, the US Congress, or the public.
The content of these two secret agreements relates to the inspection of Iran's Parchin military facility and how the IAEA and Iran will continue to address outstanding issues related to the military scale of Tehran's nuclear program.
According to a spokesperson for Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and sponsor of the Iran nuclear deal review act, Senators Bob Corker and Ben Cardin sent a private letter to Secretary of State John Kerry requesting additional texts of the two agreements.
The letter from the two Republican lawmakers stated that providing all documents related to the nuclear agreement with Iran is covered by the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law. According to these lawmakers, the White House would be violating the law if it required Congress to approve an agreement without complete documentation and data.
The right to inspect Iranian military facilities was reportedly the biggest obstacle that the P5+1 group and Iran overcame to sign the agreement on July 14th.
According to the plan, on July 23, Secretary of State John Kerry, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will testify before Congress regarding the agreement with Iran.
The major challenge facing President Barack Obama's administration is that on July 22, House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, declared that Republican lawmakers, who control a majority in both houses of Congress, "will do everything they can to block the deal."
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said that whether Congress supports a nuclear deal with Iran now depends on the administration's "attitude and cooperation."
(According to VN+)
