Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the Iran nuclear deal was “built on Iran’s lies,” and was not established “on a foundation of good faith or transparency,” after Israel announced it had obtained 110,000 files from an Iranian storage facility on Iran’s efforts to develop a secret nuclear weapons program.
“For many years, the Iranian regime has insisted to the world that its nuclear program was peaceful,” Pompeo said in a statement Monday. “The documents obtained by Israel from inside of Iran show beyond any doubt that the Iranian regime was not telling the truth.”
The documents, which were gathered by Israeli intelligence, demonstrate Iran was planning to continue a nuclear weapons program before signing the Iran deal with other world powers in 2015, Israel argues. Iran denied it ever had a nuclear weapons program throughout the negotiation process of the agreement.
Pompeo said the U.S. is determining what the documents mean for the future of the Iran nuclear deal, which aimed to freeze Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. He also added that “allowing restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program to sunset was a mistake.”
“Among the flaws of the Iran nuclear deal was the whitewashing of Iran’s illicit activities related to its military nuclear program,” Pompeo said. “Iran had many opportunities to turn over its files to international inspectors from the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and admit its nuclear work. Instead, they lied to the IAEA repeatedly. They also lied about their program to the six nations who negotiated the Iran nuclear deal. What this means is the deal was not constructed on a foundation of good faith or transparency. It was built on Iran’s lies.”
He added, “[T]he deal was not constructed on a foundation of good faith or transparency. We are therefore assessing what the discovery of Iran’s secret nuclear files means for the future of the JCPOA.”
Pompeo also said the U.S. believes all the files that have so far been reviewed are authentic.
“I have personally reviewed many of the Iranian files,” Pompeo said. “Our nonproliferation and intelligence officials have been analyzing tens of thousands of pages and translating them from Farsi. This analytical work will continue for many months. We assess that the documents we have reviewed are authentic.”
Although European allies are urging the U.S. to remain in the agreement, President Trump has signaled he intends to withdraw from the arrangement unless it is modified. A decision from the U.S. on the future of the agreement will be reached by May 12.
Pompeo — who, as a House Republican, was one of the sharpest critics of the Iran deal during negotiations over the pact — is widely expected to advise Trump to withdraw the U.S. from the deal.
But, Pompeo put the focus on negotiations with European allies, who have resisted the Trump team’s proposals to craft a supplemental deal that would put toughen the western posture toward Iran, in the run up to a May 12 deadline to renew economic sanctions on Iran or grant another waiver.
“As the President’s May 12 deadline to fix the Iran deal approaches, I will be consulting with our European allies and other nations on the best way forward in light of what we now know about Iran’s past pursuit of nuclear weapons and its systematic deception of the world,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who lobbied then-President Barack Obama and Congress not to proceed with the deal when it was being crafted, unveiled the cache of “Iran’s secret nuclear files” Monday with the explicit goal of influencing Trump’s decision.
“The nuclear deal gives Iran a clear pass to an atomic arsenal,” Netanyahu said. “It should never have been concluded. And in a few days’ time, President Trump will decide, will make a decision on what to do with the nuclear deal. I’m sure he’ll do the right thing. The right thing for the United States, the right thing for Israel and the right thing for the peace of the world.”
Netanyahu’s presentation featured a heavy emphasis on proof that Iran has developed the nuclear program for explicit military purposes and Pompeo took up that refrain on Monday evening.
“Iran’s nuclear deception is inconsistent with Iran’s pledge in the nuclear deal ‘that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop, or acquire any nuclear weapons,’” he said. “One has to ask: Why exactly was Iran hiding half a ton of nuclear weaponization files while implementing the Iran deal?”
