President Barack Obama’s political allies are questioning the text of a “side deal” between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published by the Associated Press this week.
The AP report was confirmed by Fox News, and not denied by the UN or the White House..
The deal reportedly allows Iran to conduct its own tests for nuclear material at the Parchin military site, which is suspected of having hosted nuclear weapons research. The Obama administration has not provided the deal to Congress, and many U.S. officials claim not to have seen it.
The skeptics–now mocked as “Parchin truthers” by their opponents–appear to be basing their claims on a Huffington Post interview with a former IAEA official named Tariq Rauf. “In my personal view, this is not an authentic document,” Rauf said.
The AP has stood by its report, which was based on a draft document close in substance to the final deal.
The “Parchin truthers” include Trita Parsi, who heads the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), a group often described as a pro-regime lobby. Parsi retweeted an accusation that the AP text may have been “personally forged by Benjamin Netanyahu,” and added his own comment.
Title of Iran-IAEA Parchin agmt cites “Islamic STATE of Iran”. Was this personally forged by Benjamin Netanyahu? :) http://t.co/Q43N1AaMEJ
— Tyler Cullis (@TylerCullis) August 21, 2015
The only one who refers to Iran as “Islamic State of Iran” is Netanyahu. And strangely, @AP‘s dubious “draft” of the IAEA-Iran agreement…
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) August 21, 2015
A former NIAC employee, Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, now works for the Obama administration as the National Security Council Director for Iran.
Another “Parchin truther” is J Street, the far-left lobby group that opposes the Israeli government, and often defends Obama administration policies in Congress:
The AP report should be thoroughly investigated and verified. Very worrying if there is any doubt of authenticity. https://t.co/vsKzgm2Rje — J Street (@jstreetdotorg) August 21, 2015
Vox’s Max Fisher joined in:
Yikes — this is a really serious allegation http://t.co/YUdPnGUER8 via @jessicaschulb pic.twitter.com/57FTGxjS5o
— Max Fisher (@Max_Fisher) August 21, 2015
Fisher later cited Rauf’s speculations (cautiously) and argued that “monitored inspections” were sufficient for Iran anyway.
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