Lawmakers Demand Answers on Nuclear Cooperation With Iran

GOP lawmakers are pressing the Trump administration to reveal details about nuclear cooperation with Iran under the 2015 nuclear deal, amid speculation that the president will reimpose sanctions on Iran and withdraw from the deal in May.

Texas senator Ted Cruz and Florida senator Marco Rubio sent a letter to the State Department and Department of Energy Wednesday requesting information about a controversial part of the agreement that lays out potential civil-nuclear projects between Iran and the Europeans, among other countries. A European statement last month suggested that efforts have already taken place under the provision, and Cruz and Rubio want to know what these entail.

“The JCPOA’s requirement to conduct civil-nuclear cooperation … has long been ambiguous and controversial,” they said in the letter, using an acronym for the nuclear deal.

Particularly contentious is a section that says the Europeans and “possibly other states” are ready to help Iran implement nuclear security guidelines and best practices. This could include “training and workshops to strengthen Iran’s ability to protect against, and respond to nuclear security threats, including sabotage.” That section, the GOP senators said Wednesday, suggests that the U.S. must defend Iran against allies who are trying to counter Tehran’s weaponization efforts.

“Officials from the prior administration repeatedly refused to provide public clarification to Congress about the obligations and constraints placed on the United States and other P5+1 partners,” Cruz and Rubio said.

Rubio grilled then-secretary of state John Kerry in 2015 about whether the clause would obligate the U.S. to help defend Iran against Israeli cyber sabotage. Obama-era State Department officials have since saidthat the provision is intended to protect against “theft and terrorist attacks” and that it “does not commit any country to engage in this kind of routine nuclear security cooperation.”

Cruz and Rubio want information about any civil-nuclear work that has alreadyoccurred. They are asking the Trump administration to explain the obligations that each party to the nuclear deal has to engage in civil-nuclear cooperation with Iran, what activities each party has already conducted in this context, and what monetary transactions have been made with regard to any such cooperation.

Their inquiry comes ahead of a self-imposed deadline by the president related to the nuclear deal. Trump said in January that he would not sign another round of sanctions waivers in May, effectively withdrawing the U.S. from the deal, if the Europeans do not agree to fix the agreement’s “terrible flaws.”

Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif said this week that the country would “most likely” leave the deal if the U.S. withdraws. Trump countered Tuesday that Iran would have “big problems” if they restart their nuclear program.

U.S. and European officials have been discussing fixes to the deal over the last several months. During a trip to Washington this week, French president Emmanuel Macron laid out his vision of a so-called “new deal,” which he suggested would include aspects of the old agreement.

Rubio and Cruz both said after Macron’s address they still think the U.S. should withdraw from the deal. “There are significant deficiencies in that deal that I’m not sure can be taken care of as easily or as quickly,” Rubio said.