Diplomacy

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After Meeting IAEA Chief, Senators From Both Parties “Fuming,” Have More Doubts over Nuke Deal

Senators from both parties left a closed-door meeting today with the UN’s nuclear agency today upset by the agency’s lack of clarity, raising more questions than they had going in, The Hill reported today.

Multiple Senate lawmakers emerged fuming from a nearly two-hour closed-door briefing with the globe’s top nuclear watchdog on Wednesday, frustrated by what they perceived as unnecessary stonewalling.

The Foreign Relations Committee briefing answered few questions about the secret “side deals” attached to the nuclear agreement with Iran, many said.

Instead, the meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano left many Republicans feeling more frustrated than before.

After the meeting, committee chairman Sen. Bob Corker (R – Tenn.) said that “most members left here with greater concerns” about how inspections should work. Sen. David Perdue (R – Ga. ) called the meeting “valuable,” but added that Amano’s response “was not very reassuring.”

Sen. Ben Cardin (D – Md.), the leading Democrat on the committee, admitted frustration, saying “[e]very time I get more information it raises other questions.”

One item of special concern, according to The Hill, was Iran’s refusal to give the IAEA access to Iranian nuclear scientists for interviews.

[Photo: Roll Call / YouTube ]