Secret deal reportedly lets Iran inspect its own nuclear site
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The Associated Press reported Wednesday that, under a "secret agreement" with the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran will be permitted to use its own experts to inspect a site the country had allegedly used to develop nuclear weapons. The deal between the IAEA and Iran was discovered when AP got ahold of a document that the Obama administration had described as "nothing more than a routine technical arrangement." What AP discovered, however, seemed far from the routine agreements IAEA makes with member countries to monitor their nuclear programs:
"The agreement diverges from normal inspection procedures between the IAEA and a member country by essentially ceding the agency's investigative authority to Iran. It allows Tehran to employ its own experts and equipment in the search for evidence for activities that it has consistently denied — trying to develop nuclear weapons." [The Associated Press]
This AP report will undoubtedly bolster critics' concerns that the Iran nuclear deal places too much trust in Iran to report on its own nuclear activity. While this deal is separate from the larger deal worked out between the U.S., Iran, and five other world powers in July, leaders were briefed on this separate agreement between the IAEA and Iran and "endorsed it as part of the larger package."
Read the full story at The Associated Press.
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