IAEA Disturbed at Media Misunderstanding Over Iran Inspection Procedures

He said the IAEA’s arrangements with Iran are “technically sound and consistent with our long-established practices. They do not compromise our… standards in any way”. Investigating the site is part of the overarching nuclear-limits deal.

“It’s a good deal for Iran, for Russian Federation, China and probably Hezbollah, but is it not, definitely not a good deal for Israel or for the United States or our allies – especially Jordan and Saudi Arabia”, Scott said during an interview on ‘A Closer Look.

The draft paper suggests that, instead of carrying out their own probe, IAEA staff will monitor Iranian personnel as they inspect the Parchin nuclear site.

The director general of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, said Thursday that he was dismayed by the claims and that they misrepresent the methods to be used by the agency to “undertake this important verification work”. Vox’s Max Fisher noted that the Associated Press “quietly removed the damning bits from its Iran story … but left in the GOP quotes bashing the deal”.

The Obama administration and other supporters say the wider agreement say it is focused on the future, with ample inspections, and that the side accord between Iran and the IAEA is focused on Iran’s activities in the past and therefore is not central to the overall deal.

“Trusting Iran to inspect its own nuclear site and report to the UN in an open and transparent way is remarkably naive and incredibly reckless”.

But they struggled to offer specifics about the side-deal for the Parchin military site – because they said it was governed by a confidential agreement between Iran and the IAEA.

Congress is poised to vote on a resolution in September that would disapprove of the P5+1 agreement, which seeks to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“The Obama administration has a lot of explaining to do”, said Republican House Speaker John Boehner. But Iran and the United Nations agency agreed last month to wrap up the investigation by December, when the agency plans to issue a final assessment. Germany’s economy minister led a trade delegation to Iran just days after the agreement was inked, touting new opportunities for German business.

IAEA inspectors have been denied access to Parchin for several years and Iran has denied any interest in, or previous work on, nuclear weapons. The IAEA “will ensure the technical authenticity” of Iran’s inspection, but fails to lay out exactly how the procedure will be enforced.

“Why haven’t these secret side agreements been provided to Congress and the American people for review?” Opponents, however, are increasingly confident that the revelations mean that a resolution of disapproval will pass both houses of Congress though not enough to sustain a presidential veto.

“I think it will only weaken the Jewish organisations because it has become clear throughout this process that these organisations do not speak for the Jewish community”, Levine said.