Tom Cotton revealed yesterday that he’s learned of two secret side deals between the IAEA and Iran that Congress won’t be allowed to review:
On Friday, I had a meeting in Vienna with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), during which the agency conveyed to the lawmakers that two side deals made between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the IAEA as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will remain secret and will not be shared with other nations, with Congress, or with the public. One agreement covers the inspection of the Parchin military complex, and the second details how the IAEA and Iran will resolve outstanding issues on possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program.
In failing to secure the disclosure of these secret side deals, the Obama administration is asking Congress and the American people to trust, but not verify. What we cannot do is trust the terror-sponsoring, anti-American, outlaw regime that governs Iran and that has been deceiving the world on its nuclear weapons work for years. Congress’s evaluation of this deal must be based on hard facts and full information. That we are only now discovering that parts of this dangerous agreement are being kept secret begs the question of what other elements may also be secret and entirely free from public scrutiny.
Today on Morning Joe, the White House spokesman is asked repeatedly if they know about these secret side deals and he refuses to answer directly:
So how can Congress fully weigh in on this deal if they can’t see the entire deal? Obama doesn’t even respect Congress enough to tell them about the deal, but that should be no surprise as I’ve pointed out here.
Who knows what other secret deals are out there. It’s as I’ve said, despite what Congress does, Obama has already won on this issue by getting Congress to give up its power to approve the deal. Now they can only disapprove it and they probably won’t be able to get enough votes to do that. But even if they do, we can’t stop the other deals with Iran made by the parties involved.