Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) want answers from Secretary of State John Kerry over Iran nuclear “side deals,” as they aim to keep pressure on the administration over the August recess.
 
The two Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Kerry on Tuesday, saying that there have been “seven different answers from members of the administration” on whether or not administration officials have read or been briefed on the agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“Within the administration, there have been changing and contradictory statements about whether officials have read or been briefed on these documents and what version of the documents they had read or been briefed on,” they add in the letter. “While we find third- or fourth-hand briefings on a matter of such importance unacceptable, you and your team have consistently said that the administration has extensive knowledge of these side deals.”
 
The “side agreements” have become a focal point for Republican opposition to the deal, as well as an area of concern for undecided Democrats. Cotton and Pompeo said in the letter to Kerry that the agreements have not been handed over to Congress, which they argue is required under the Iran review legislation passed earlier this year.
 
The two lawmakers want Kerry to explain why the administration is confident it will be able to verify that Iran is complying with an agreement, as well as weigh in on reports that Iran is trying to “sanitize” its facility at Parchin, where the government is suspected of having carried out tests related to building a nuclear weapon.
 
Cotton and Pompeo ask if under the Iran-IAEA agreements the reported activities would be “explicitly or implicitly forbidden.”
 
They also want to know if under the side agreements Iran would be able to collect its own soil samples at Parchin, which would then be handed over to the IAEA; if Iranian scientists and military officers are required to be interviewed by inspectors from the United Nations who are looking at Iran’s previous nuclear work; and if an assessment report given to Congress on the final deal is based on the side agreements.
 
The lawmakers’ letter to Kerry is the latest in a series they have sent to administration officials pushing for either details on the agreements between Iran and the IAEA or for the deals to be turned over to Congress.