Iran Focus
London, 16 Feb – Senior officials of the Iranian regime have warned the US against revealing details about deals that were made alongside the nuclear deal.
The deals were negotiated with the Obama administration and have not yet been disclosed to the public.
Reports indicate that national security adviser Michael Flynn may have been ousted from the administration partly because he wanted to make public sensitive details about these deals.
Several Congress members have been carrying out investigations about President Obama’s wish to keep the documents out of the public realm.
President Trump is said to be working on making the details public despite Iran’s warnings. He remains defiant faced with the threats and refuses to be subdued.
The head of Iran’s foreign policy committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, warned: “If Trump wants to publish confidential documents exchanged between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, it will in fact constitute a violation of the agency’s obligations, because the agency has been committed not to make Iran’s confidential nuclear information and documents available to any country, including the U.S.”
Although the documents are not classified, they are kept in a secure place in Capital Hill meaning that they cannot be accessed easily. Those who want to read the information must have sufficient security clearance and cannot discuss or write about what the documents contain.
Some of the documents deal with Iran’s uranium enrichment capability and contain details about the inspection of nuclear sites in the country. Also contained in the documents is information about approximately $2 billion that was paid to Iran on the quiet. It has been said that this was part of an effort to get Iran to release American hostages.
Republican Peter Roskam (R., Ill.) said: “The administration is under no obligation to conceal information about secret side deals, nor should they feel obligated to protect the anonymity of individuals or institutions who misbehaved at the behest of the Obama administration.”
A congressional adviser who knows about the content of the documents has said that President Obama wanted to keep the documents hidden because the content basically proves that Iran was allowed to cheat through secret exemptions. This would have completely undermined the nuclear deal, showing that the deal would never have survived otherwise.
Another source from the Congress said that the laws permits such documents to be available for consult by lawmakers. They said that the American public has every right to know what deals were made along with the nuclear deal. The source said that the US should show that it is not intimated by Iran’s threats and should release the details to the public.
