US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power Tuesday faced a grilling by lawmakers on reports that the Obama administration and its allies were ignoring the Iranian regime’s violations of international sanctions in a bid to keep a nuclear deal with Tehran from derailing.
In a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Ms. Power was questioned on a new UN watchdog report that detailed apparent acts of Iranian cheating that were not revealed by the US and its negotiating partners.
Ms. Power denied the reports. “There’s no pulling of our punches, even during these negotiations or ever,” she said.
A number of Congressmen complained of a lack of transparency as the US and the Iranian regime try to beat a June 30 deadline to reach an agreement to curb Tehran’s nuclear programs. Many expressed doubt that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog, could monitor the agreement to ensure Tehran did not cheat.
“From the standpoint of Congress, we do not feel we have received the details on these negotiations,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, California Republican.
Ms. Power claimed that sanctions could be easily re-imposed on Tehran if it cheats.
Mr. Royce said lawmakers fear that Russia and China, which have veto authority as permanent members of the UN Security Council, would make it difficult to snap sanctions back into place for non-compliance.
Samantha Power told the committee that she couldn’t go into detail about what kind of snap-back mechanism would be in place at the United Nations. But she said the US and its partners will “not allow snap-back to be left in the hands of Russia or China.”
Ms. Power’s testimony comes as the Obama administration faces criticisms on a number of fronts over the Iranian nuclear endgame. Another recent report found there had been an increase in Iran’s nuclear stockpile by about 20 percent over the last 18 months — despite Tehran’s assurances that it will cut its stockpiles.
Based in part on wire reports