Iran MPs Want Facts on Framework Deal

Kerry Insists Deal Is What US Says It Is

Iranian MPs are expressing increasing disquiet over the lack of concrete publicly released details on the nuclear framework agreement reached earlier this month, with 212 of 290 MPs signing a letter demanding a full fact sheet on it.

They’re not alone. Though a joint statement was issued on the day of the framework’s agreement, it offered few details, and since then both US and Iranian officials have offered starkly different representations of what was agreed on.

The US seems keen to keep the actual deal a secret, with Secretary of State John Kerry insisting that the deal is exactly what the US says it is, and that everything else was “spin.”

Officials have conceded that both sides agreed initially to keep the deal secret to allow for their respective spin to emphasize the more favorable elements of the pact. Yet since then the two sides have delivered such contradictory assessments that the “spin” isn’t readily sorted out.

US Congressional hawks are also looking for more details, hoping they can find something that will put the deal in a worse light, but so long as the deal remains secret, many will be assuming the worst.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.