South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is threatening to withhold funding from an international inspection agency pivotal to the Iran nuclear agreement unless President Barack Obama’s administration discloses specifics of several controversial “side deals” the agency has with Tehran.
The 2016 long-shot Republican presidential candidate warned Secretary of State John Kerry this week that unless the White House allows lawmakers to review the agreements forged between the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran, he will work to strip the IAEA of U.S. funding.
Graham chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee subcommittee charged with overseeing funding for the agency and cutting funding could limit the agency’s ability to inspect nuclear sites in Iran.
“As an indication of how serious I view the provision of copies of these side agreements to our national security, I intend to condition and/or withhold voluntary contributions to the IAEA in fiscal year 2016 should they not be provided prior to the congressional debate next month,” Graham wrote Tuesday. His office released the letter Thursday.
The “side deals” between the IAEA and Iran have emerged as a major concern for Republican’s skeptical of the Iran deal. The Obama administration maintains that the deals are not germane to Congress’ approval of the larger Iran nuclear deal — an argument that has done little to assuage angry GOP lawmakers. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman has previously told lawmakers that the U.S. negotiators have only seen drafts of the agreements, not the final language.
And the head of the international inspections group told lawmakers that divulging the details of the agreements would compromise his ability to hold confidential negotiations with other countries in the future.
But Graham still wants Obama to push the IAEA to make the documents available to Congress.
Even if the Obama administration can provide the side deals to lawmakers, Republicans in both the House and the Senate are expected offer a resolution disapproving of the nuclear deal in mid-September. That legislation is expected to pass but will be vetoed by Obama.
Graham, along with Republican lawmakers like Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas and Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, has stressed that all documents relating to the side deals need to be provided to Congress before members vote on the larger Iran deal.
“I respectfully request the Administration to provide in a timely manner to the Congress any and all copies of side agreements between Iran and the IAEA associated with the Iran nuclear deal. Given anticipated legislative action on this controversial deal in the Senate next month, firsthand information on IAEA side agreements are vital to both the debate and decision making process for all Members — irrespective of their views of Iran or the merits of the deal,” Graham wrote.
Graham said there is precedence for the IAEA to make agreements public. In the letter to Kerry, Graham said in 2007 the agency released a document on Iran to the public.
The IAEA receives about $88 million from the U.S. annually.