(Iranian) Nuclear deal hits history hurdles

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID03-030314.html



Nuclear deal hits history hurdles
By Gareth Porter
Feb 28, '14


WASHINGTON - The Barack Obama administration has demanded that Iran resolve "past and present concerns" about the "possible military dimensions" of its nuclear program as a condition for signing a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Tehran.

Administration officials have suggested that Iran must satisfy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding the allegations in the agency's report that it has had a covert nuclear weapons program in the past.

But the record of negotiations between Iran and the IAEA shows Tehran has been ready for the past two years to provide detailed responses to all the charges of an Iranian nuclear weapons work, and that the problem has been the refusal of the IAEA to share with Iran the documentary evidence on which those allegations have been based.

The real obstacle to providing those documents, however, has long been a US policy of refusing to share the documents on the assumption that Iran must confess to having had a weaponization program.