by WorldTribune Staff, July 20, 2016

The Obama administration withheld from the public a secret side deal it made with Iran in nuclear negotiations, the State Department has acknowledged.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner on July 19 confirmed the side deal of the Iran nuclear agreement would lift some of the nuclear restrictions on Iran earlier than what was agreed to in Teheran’s deal with world powers.

The secret deal was revealed in a confidential document obtained by The Associated Press (AP) on July 18.

The document says that as of January 2027 — 11 years after the deal was implemented — Iran will start replacing its mainstay centrifuges with thousands of advanced machines. From year 11 to 13 of the agreement, the document reveals, Iran will install centrifuges up to five times as efficient as the 5,060 machines it is now restricted to using.

Toner, when asked by the AP about the document, said the circumstances of the document were known to the world powers who brokered the Iran deal, meaning that it was not secret.

“It’s most likely Iran’s R&D plan, and that was thoroughly vetted and reviewed by the P5+1, as well as the IAEA,” he said, according to The Washington Free Beacon. “So I think what we’re pushing back on is the sense that this is somehow some new document to drop that changes the parameters or changes our expectations with regard to Iran’s nuclear program past year 10.”

The AP pressed Toner, asking about the document: “No one outside that knew what it was or knew its contents. Did they? It’s the information in the document that is new to the public. Right?”

Toner responded by admitting, “I’m not going to argue that, yes. That’s true.”