The Obama administration is scrambling to reassure members of Congress about an impending nuclear deal with Iran amid a still growing controversy that has publicly pitted senior State Department and White officials against the New York Times and veteran D.C. reporters.
Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and a team of scientists headed to Capitol Hill Tuesday in an effort to quiet concerns over the weakness of an impending final nuclear deal with Iran, according to sources apprised of the classified meeting.
Lawmakers, including Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, emerged from the meeting concerned that the Obama administration would secure a deal with Iran that fails to adequately check the Islamic Republic’s ability to build a nuclear weapon.
The administration’s attempts to bolster congressional support for its negotiations with Iran come as senior officials publicly work to downplay the fallout over a New York Times report disclosing that Iran’s nuclear stockpiles have significantly grown in recent months in a potential violation of past agreements with Western nations.
Congressional leaders have additionally accused the administration of stonewalling attempts to obtain key documents explaining what exactly Iran would have to do under any final nuclear agreement.
One congressional source familiar with Tuesday evening’s classified briefing said that Obama administration officials sought to explain the ways it would ensure Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon capability under any final deal.
"Since the verification regime and establishing Iran’s breakout capability are critical to evaluating any nuclear deal with Iran, the briefing from the secretary of energy and the directors of U.S. nuclear laboratories was arranged to help members understand in more detail the technical aspects of Iran’s nuclear program," said one Republican aide to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The issue of verification continues to concern lawmakers and critics of the administration’s diplomacy.
"As negotiators from the P5+1 nations and Iran attempt to meet a June 30 deadline for a final agreement, the committee is holding a series of briefings and hearings this month to prepare members for congressional review of a final deal if one is reached," the source said.
Corker, who participated in the classified briefing, accused the administration on Wednesday of misleading the public about the parameters of a final deal.
"Last night we met with scientists in a classified setting about laboratories and our secretary of energy to make sure Congress really understands all the details of this, can raise concerns," Corker told Fox News. "We know there is already an agreement relative to the Iranian nuclear development program beginning in year 10" on any final deal.
"When the president said in that clip that you played that they can not get a nuclear weapon for 20 years, that is contrary to what he said on NPR right after the April 2nd agreement," Corker explained.
Corker and others have been trying to obtain a document that offers the precise details of what the administration has tentatively agreed to. However, officials will not hand it over to Congress.
"There is a document that explains what Iran is able to do per the agreement after the 10-year period," Corker said in a separate interview Wednesday on CNN. "I have asked the State Department for the document. They have not given it to me. I have asked the Energy Department for the document. They have not given it to me. I've asked the White House for the document. They have not given it to me."
"The only thing I can imagine … is that they think that it would shed [a] bad light on what they have agreed to," Corker added. Most of us want to make sure that if we're going to enter into an agreement, it is an agreement that will keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon over a long term."
Corker expressed further concern about multiple concessions made by the Obama administration during discussions with Iran.
Iran, for instance, is pushing for major relief from economic sanctions before they comply with the nuclear agreement. It also is demanding permission to continue sensitive nuclear research and weapons work.
Meanwhile, the State Department and White House National Security Council (NSC) continue to spar with reporters over the Times’ report about growth in Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium, the key component in a nuclear weapon.
The article was widely seen as challenging the administration’s assertion that an interim agreement struck with Iran in 2013 had frozen its nuclear program. This has been a key claim in the administration’s efforts to convince skeptical lawmakers that the Iranians can be trusted to abide by the terms of a final nuclear agreement.
A new report by the Pentagon claims that Iran is continuing to develop missile systems capable of carrying a nuclear payload.