The State Department on Monday subtly altered its explanation of how Iran’s nuclear facilities would be inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency, several days after the Associated Press reported that the IAEA would allow Iranian officials to conduct some of the inspections themselves at its Parchin site.
Last week, State didn’t contest the AP report when it broke, but did say the Obama administration believes the confidential deal between the IAEA and Iran would give the IAEA all the access it needs to assess Iran’s nuclear activities.
“What we’ve said, and Under Secretary [Wendy] Sherman made this clear too when she came up and spoke from this very podium, that the IAEA will have the access they need to sites that they need to get to, including military sites, in keeping with the agreement — the parameters of this deal,” spokesman John Kirby said Thursday. “So we’re very comfortable that IAEA’s going to be able to get to go where they need to go.”
But on Monday, Kirby made a small addition to that line, and said the government believes the IAEA will give it all the “access and information” it needs. That addition could be seen as a reflection of the deal as reported by the AP, one that will require the IAEA in some cases to rely only on information provided by Iranian officials, instead of information collected by the IAEA.
“We are confident, remain confident, that this deal in all its parameters, will provide the IAEA the access it needs to do its job,” Kirby said before adding, “the access and information that it needs …”
When Kirby said again that the IAEA would have all the “access” it needs, he was pressed on whether that means IAEA inspectors would be able to go into Iran’s sites at all times. But Kirby declined to answer that.
“I’m not going to get into the technical parameters between the IAEA and Iran,” he said. And when asked again if letting the Iranians collect some information themselves would suffice, Kirby again leaned on the more expansive “access and information” line.
“Without getting into the details … we are comfortable, confident, that this deal gives the IAEA the access that it needs and the information it needs to verify,” he said.
Republican critics of the Iran nuclear deal that President Obama supports held up the AP report as another example of why Congress should vote down the deal.
Republicans have also said the AP report is another reason why the IAEA should make its deal with Iran public, so people can see how loose or how strict it really is. But the IAEA has said it will not make the deal public, and the State Department has said it would not take any steps to compel the IAEA to change its mind.
