WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made the following statement today about an Associated Press report alleging the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will permit Iranians to inspect the Parchin military complex where Iran is believed to have conducted nuclear weapons development work. The secret agreement between the IAEA and Iran has not been provided to members of Congress or the Obama administration even though it is integral to Iranian compliance with the nuclear agreement.
“This type of unorthodox agreement has never been done before by the IAEA and speaks to the great lengths our negotiators took to accommodate the Ayatollah despite repeated assurances from the administration that this deal is not based on trust,” said Corker.
This week in an op-ed in the Washington Post, Senator Corker announced his decision to oppose the nuclear deal with Iran when Congress votes on a joint resolution of disapproval in September.
“For a deal that must be built on verification and not trust, the inspections process is deeply flawed,” Corker wrote in the op-ed. “Through verbal presentations regarding possible military dimensions, many in Congress are aware of the unorthodox arrangements agreed to by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the administration and our negotiating partners to keep from upsetting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Those actual agreements remain secret, but we know that at best they are most unusual and speak to the P5+1’s low commitment to holding Iran’s feet to the fire.”
###