Iran: Nuclear weapon site won't be inspected, Amano didn't disclose agreement to Congress
An Iranian spokesman said on Monday that IAEA Director General Yukia Amano was warned not to disclose Iran's agreement with his agency to the US Congress when he testified there. The spokesman also said that the agreement abides by Iran's red lines, which include no inspection of military facilities. That would include Parchin where the Iranians worked on nuclear weapons.
"In a letter to Yukiya Amano, we underlined that
if the secrets of the agreement (roadmap between Iran and the IAEA) are
revealed, we will lose our trust in the Agency; and despite the US
Congress's pressures, he didn’t give any information to them," Spokesman
of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi
said in a meeting with the Iranian lawmakers in Tehran on Monday.
"Had he done so, he himself would have been harmed," he added.
In relevant remarks early this month, Iran's Envoy
to the International Atomic Energy Agency Reza Najafi warned the UN
nuclear watchdog to avoid disclosing its secret agreements with Tehran.
"The agreements signed between a member country
and the IAEA are definitely secret and cannot be presented to any other
country at all," Najafi said.
Referring to the discussions at the US Congress
during which the US officials elaborated on the nuclear agreement
between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and
France plus Germany), he said, "The discussions revealed that the secret
texts between Iran and the Agency have not even been provided to the US
administration."
"For the very same reason, they cannot be presented to the Senate members either," Najafi added.
...
Amano and Head of the AEOI Ali Akbar Salehi signed a roadmap of cooperation in Vienna on July 14.
The roadmap contains secret arrangements stated in
one or two documents entailing on the methods to be used by the two
sides in their cooperation.
Senior Iranian nuclear officials have said that
all IAEA member states have such secret agreements and the UN nuclear
watchdog is duty bound to keep them secret to any third party individual
or state.
After the roadmap was signed, Salehi announced
that the new agreement would fully settle all unresolved issues
pertaining to Tehran's nuclear activities in the past.
"All past issues will be resolved completely after
Iran and the Agency adopt some measures," Salehi told reporters after
signing an agreement called the Iran-IAEA Cooperation 'Roadmap'.
He said that all agreements, including the
measures decided for Parchin military site, will be implemented with
full respect to Iran's redlines.
Iran had earlier announced that inspection of the country's military sites are one of its redlines.
Iran's Envoy to the International Atomic Energy
Agency Reza Najafi objected to the US Senate's demand for being briefed
about the contents of the recently signed roadmap of cooperation between
Tehran and the IAEA, warning the UN nuclear watchdog to avoid
disclosing its secret agreements with Tehran.
"The
agreements signed between a member country and the IAEA are definitely
secret and cannot be presented to any other country at all," Najafi said
in an interview with the Iranian students news agency on Saturday.
Referring to the discussions at the US Congress
during which the US officials elaborated on the nuclear agreement
between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and
France plus Germany), he said, "The discussions revealed that the secret
texts between Iran and the Agency have not even been provided to the US
administration."
"For the very same reason, they cannot be presented to the Senate members either," Najafi added.
Elsewhere in an interview with another Iranian
news agency, the envoy said Tehran has already warned the IAEA chief
against the repercussions of a disclosure of its agreement with the UN
nuclear watchdog agency.
"Iran has clarified it to Amano that the text of
its understanding with the IAEA cannot be presented to the Senate,"
Najafi reiterated.
He further warned that "the Agency knows what it means to disclose a secret document".
This is worse than Obamacare. The Congress was told it could read about Obamacare once they signed the bill. This time, they cannot even do that.
1. U.S. Nuclear Inspectors Are Banned From Inspecting Iran’s Nuclear Sites
...
The administration’s claim that the deal provides inspections “anytime,
anywhere” is also false. Obama’s deal allows Iran to block inspector
access to any undeclared nuclear site. As Charles Krauthammer notes,
“The denial is then adjudicated by a committee—on which Iran sits. It
then goes through several other bodies, on all of which Iran sits” and
the whole process may take up to 24 days.
2. Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal Lifts Economic Sanctions that Could Boost Iran’s Economy with $150 Billion in Revenue
As the Washington Post
reports, “Yet another worry is that the lifting of tough economic
sanctions on Iran would provide it with as much as $150 billion in
revenue. Some of that money would be spent on infrastructure and the
Iranian people. Some of it, critics say, would go to the likes of
Hezbollah, Syrian Bashar al-Assad and Iraqi militias that no long ago
were killing Americans.”
3. The Obama Administration Admits That ‘We Should Expect’
Iran Will Spend Some of the $150 Billion in Revenues Obama’s Deal Gives
Them On Their Military and Possibly Terrorism
...
4. On the Very Week Obama Brokered His Iran Nuclear Deal, Large
Crowds Across Iran Could Be Heard Chanting “Death to America”—And Iran’s
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Declared ‘Death to America’ Just Months Ago
...
5. Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal Does Not Require Iran to Release Any American Prisoners
...
6. Obama’s Deal Allows Russia and China to Supply Iran with Weapons
...
Krauthammer argues that “the net effect of this capitulation will be
not only to endanger our Middle East allies now under threat from Iran
and its proxies, but to endanger our own naval forces in the Persian
Gulf.” He added, “Imagine how Iran’s acquisition of the most advanced
anti-ship missiles would threaten our control over the Gulf and the
Strait of Hormuz, waterways we have kept open for international commerce
for a half century.”
7. 77 Percent of Americans Oppose Obama’s Lifting of Sanctions Against Iran
Why did Obama-Kerry negotiate such a bad deal? Because they wanted a deal at all costs. The New York Times published a shocking story last week that shows just how Kerry and Wendy Sherman were defeated every step of the way.
At
one point last week the simmering tension between the two negotiators
boiled over when Mr. Zarif felt his American counterpart was pressing
too hard. “Never threaten an Iranian!” he shouted. At the other end of
the table Sergey V. Lavrov,
the Russian foreign minister, who has had his share of disputes with
Mr. Kerry, tried to break the tension. “Or a Russian!” he said, as the
room broke out in nervous laughter.
But
during a break on one particularly discouraging March day in Lausanne,
Switzerland, where negotiations were held before adjourning to Vienna,
Mr. Zarif struck a different tone as he invoked the names of the key
figures on two sides, including Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and
the top energy officials of the United States and Iran, Ernest J. Moniz and Ali Akbar Salehi.
“We
are not going to have another time in history when there is an Obama
and a Biden and a Kerry and a Moniz again,” he said, according to notes
of the conversation. “And there may be no Rouhani, Zarif and Salehi.”
[The Iranians] understood all along that their bargaining position was superior,
because Obama needed a deal at any cost — as his critics have said all
along, he would take a bad deal over no deal, especially as he got
deeper into the process, and it became more obvious that both Obama’s
ego and political needs made backing away from the table unthinkable.
Obama and Kerry doubled down with every losing hand, until the Iranians
cleaned them out.
The NYT
is essentially saying that Obama’s top priority was collecting some
good press and personal accolades for a deal, and dumping the Iran
problem into someone else’s lap while he gets through his lame-duck
years.
Late
in the article, it is mentioned that Obama grew embarrassed about how
obvious his thirst for a deal had become, and tried telling his aides,
“I don’t need this.” The aides guessedthat he meant Supreme
Court wins on ObamaCare and gay marriage had given him enough political
cover to make delaying the Iran deal feasible.
One way to appreciate how badly America lost in this lousy deal is to look at how many side issues it doesinclude
– every last one of them a win for Iran. “Imprisonment of dissidents
and even some Americans” does not directly relate to nuclear weapons…
but neither does ICBM technology, and Iran won concessions there.
Obama’s
apologists are spinning this debacle by claiming the only alternative
was a huge, bloody war, beginning immediately. Secretary of State Kerry
actually wound up sobbing about how he had managed to avert another
Vietnam. Meanwhile, Iran is boasting about defeating “unfair” sanctions
that never should have been leveled against it, forcing the Great Satan
to acknowledge its Allah-given right to atomic power, and rather openly
stating it is still unafraid of fighting a war against what the
Ayatollah describes as the nexus of “global arrogance” in America.
Cyprus authorities detained Iran’s foreign minister at the Larnaca Airport because his name appeared on an EU sanctions list barring Iranians who are involved in the country’s nuclear program.
The Cyprus Mail daily reported on Thursday that Ali Akbar Salehi was held up for a “few minutes” and stayed in a VIP room at the airport.
The EU had previously placed Salehi on its sanctions list barring travel to Europe because he was the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEIO) from July 2009 to December 2010.
The EU waived this designation once he became foreign minister.
Iranian foreign minister sought to procure nuclear weapons materials 20 years ago
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akhbar Salehi was involved in attempts to procure nuclear weapons materials 20 years ago according to David Albright, founder of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
"Salehi knew about or was involved in efforts to create an alleged parallel military nuclear program that is of great interest to the IAEA now," Albright told Reuters, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog.
"And the intention of that program was probably to make nuclear weapons, including producing highly enriched uranium," Albright said.
While senior IAEA officials have in the past told Reuters they suspected Salehi and Sharif University played a role in such procurement activities, the telexes appear to be the first public evidence supporting those suspicions.
But the world continues to delude itself that Iran has no intention of developing or using nuclear weapons. Better get out the crickets.
Remember how defenseless defense minister AmirComrade Peretz threatened in 2006 that Hezbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah would never forget the name Amir Peretz? The IDF will never forget the name Ali Akhbar Salehi. Fool.
But of course: Iran won't discuss nuclear program in Istanbul
Iran is expected to get together with the P 5+1 in Istanbul on Friday and Saturday, and I'm sure that you'll all be shocked to hear that Acting Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has announced that Iran's nuclear program will not be on the agenda (Hat Tip: Is Iran's Fist Still Clenched).
"We will absolutely not recognize the negotiation if the other side wants to negotiate on the issue of the [Iranian] nuclear dossier," Salehi said in an interview with state-run Iran newspaper.
Salehi, who previously headed Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said the Iranian nuclear issue could be only discussed with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog.
"The agency, based on international rules and regulations, is the only authority to judge the member states' issues," Salehi said adding that the discussion of the issue with Iran Six is "meaningless."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tehran was ready to discuss global international issues at the talks with the group of six powers, but not its nuclear program.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
