The State Department confirmed Tuesday that non-public documents revealed this week accurately describe how that Iran will be able to ramp up its nuclear enrichment capacity after about a decade.
But the department insisted that the group of countries involved in the deal knew this as it was being negotiated, and said the information revealed Monday isn’t “new” to them, even though the details had been kept away from the public since the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, was agreed.
State also insisted the new capacity in Iran won’t help it build a bomb, and would only be used for civil nuclear power.
“We’re confident that Iran’s enrichment capacity in the years after I guess year 10, the initial decade of the JCPOA, will undergo measured, incremental growth that is consistent with a peaceful, civilian nuclear program,” spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
The Associated Press obtained a “secret” document that Toner described as an “R&D plan” that Iran will have to submit to the International Atomic Energy Agency. According to the AP, Iran will be able to replace its more than 5,000 older centrifuges with 3,500 “advanced” centrifuges.
The AP said those machines could get Iran closer to a bomb, but Toner refuted that.
“If for whatever reason Iran tries to pursue a military nuclear program, we’re confident that we have the safeguards in place and the access in place to the information, to the data, to the material that we need to watch, that we can detect that,” Toner said.
“This was always part of the agreement, that Iran could begin to develop after year 10, consistent with a peaceful civilian nuclear program, under the IAEA’s watchful eye,” he added.
Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., a vocal opponent of the Iran agreement, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner that it’s “unacceptable” that the Obama administration would hide these sorts of details from the public.
“Last year, I went to Vienna and exposed secret side deals between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency,” he said. “Recently, we learned that the secrets did not end there.”
“It is completely unacceptable that the Obama administration would hide details from the American people about its nuclear deal with Iran — and simply absurd that the administration would try to claim victory for such a short term and ill-conceived agreement,” he added. “If President Obama negotiated a good deal for the United States, he would not need to hide facts from us.”
Toner downplayed the idea that the document was “secret,” since it was known to the countries negotiating the deal, and even members of Congress. But he acknowledged that the details had been kept away from the public.
“I’m not going to argue with that, yes. That’s true,” he said. “[I]t was not in the public domain.”
