Congress has no evidence showing Iran violated nuclear deal: Democrats

Activists take part in a rally to commemorate the nuclear deal with Iran in front of the White House, on July 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

Top Democrats in the United States Senate are demanding the administration of President Donald Trump to provide evidence for has claims that Iran violated the international nuclear deal.

On Wednesday, seven senior Democratic senators wrote a letter to Trump’s cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, to ask them to provide any information they have to prove that Tehran has not been committed to the 2015 agreement, dubbed as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Since Trump took office, the US has launched an attack against the nuclear deal negotiated between Iran and the world powers, including Washington, threatening to abandon the deal on multiple occasions.

The US president told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that the nuclear agreement is an “embarrassment” for Washington, accusing Tehran of violating the deal.

This is while all the other signatories of the agreement, the UK, Russia, Germany, China and France, have reiterated their commitment to the deal.

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has also verified Iran’s compliance on multiple occasions.

In their letter, the American Democrats argued that under the 2015

Iran Nuclear Review Act the president must notify the US Congress of any violations it has detected.

"(The 2015 review act) requires the president to provide information to Congress on any potentially significant Iranian breach or compliance concern related to the JCPOA within ten calendar days of receiving the information," read the letter, seen by Reuters. "To date, the Senate has received no such notification and the administration has provided little public testimony to Congress on the status of Iranian compliance with the agreement.”

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats were among other recipients of the letter, signed by Senators Sherrod Brown, Maria Cantwell, Ben Cardin, Richard Durbin, Patrick Leahy, Jack Reed and Mark Warner.

The Trump administration has until mid-October to certify to the Congress whether Iran is complying with the JCPOA.

The lawmakers have demanded the recipients to provide any information they claim they have before October 6.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that if international accords were supposed to be violated because an individual does not like them, no one would seek to find a solution to global issues through diplomacy and “this will amount to inviting the world to chaos, muscle-flexing and [use of] military power.”


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