A senior official at the State Department refused to deny that Iran will "play a role" in the inspections of the Parchin nuclear site believed to have housed nuclear arms development.
According to CNN, the official insisted Thursday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would exercise "total oversight" regarding the inspection of Iran’s Parchin military site a day after an apparent draft of one of the secret side deals between the IAEA and Tehran indicated that Iran will be permitted to use its own experts to inspect the site.
The IAEA is the United Nations agency responsible for ensuring that Tehran abides by the stipulations in the nuclear deal finalized in Vienna on July 14.
"Iran is not self-inspecting," the State Department official said, though he would not deny that Iran will "play a role" in the inspection and sampling.
Moreover, a senior Obama administration official alleged that, though Iranian experts may be permitted to take samples at the military facility, individuals from other countries will play a role in analyzing them.
The secret agreements between Iran and the IAEA—at least two of which exist—have to do with the inspection of Parchin as well as the extent to which Tehran must admit to the details of its alleged nuclear weapons program.
Many congressional lawmakers have expressed outrage at their lack of access to the details of the secret agreements, accusing Obama of breaking the law by refusing to disclose them as Congress conducts its 60-day review of the Iran deal.
The draft of one of the secret deals, obtained by the Associated Press Wednesday, suggests that IAEA officials will monitor Iranian experts as they conduct the Parchin inspections and provide the U.N. agency with photos and videos taken only of areas that Iran has not deemed off-limits because of military implications.
Iranian technicians are also to take samples from weapons development work, which will be capped at seven samples inside the building.
The IAEA on Thursday dismissed the draft report of the secret agreement as a "misrepresentation."
After becoming the first Democratic senator to oppose the nuclear agreement, Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) stressed last week that the United States should not trust European nations to sufficiently inspect Iran’s sensitive facilities.