FM Zarif Blasts American ‘Hypocrisy’
Plan to Sell Nuclear Tech to Saudis Riles Americans
TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Iran on Wednesday lashed out the U.S. for ignoring Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations after a U.S. congressional report revealed that Washington sought to share nuclear technology with the kingdom.
Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif tweeted: "First a dismembered journalist; now illicit sale of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia fully expose #USHypocrisy."
He appeared to be referring to the report, released Tuesday, which said senior White House officials pushed a project to share nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia despite the objections of ethics and national security officials. He also referred to the killing of writer Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in October.
The Trump administration withdrew from a 2015 international agreement with Iran, saying it did not go far enough in restricting Tehran's nuclear activities.
U.S. lawmakers said Tuesday they were probing whether President Donald Trump is rushing to sell sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia to please corporate supporters who stand to profit handsomely.
The House of Representatives committee in charge of investigations, led by the rival Democratic Party since last month, said that "multiple whistleblowers" warned of conflicts of interest "that could implicate federal criminal statutes."
Representative Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, asked the White House to turn over documents including those related to a meeting two months into Trump's tenure between his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Saudi Arabia's powerful Muhammad bin Salman, who shortly afterward became crown prince.
An initial report by the committee said that "strong private commercial interests have been pressing aggressively" to transfer sensitive technology to Saudi Arabia.
"These commercial entities stand to reap billions of dollars through contracts associated with constructing and operating nuclear facilities in Saudi Arabia -- and apparently have been in close and repeated contact with President Trump and his administration to the present day," the report said.
The United States cannot legally transfer nuclear technology to countries without reaching so-called Section 123 agreements, which provide assurances of peaceful energy use.
The House committee voiced fear that Saudi Arabia -- the world's top oil exporter -- could convert U.S. knowhow into making a nuclear bomb.
The committee said that the leading proponent of building nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia has been IP3 International, a company whose subsidiary in 2016 listed retired Army lieutenant general Michael Flynn as an advisor.
Flynn served briefly as Trump's national security adviser before resigning over lying about alleged secret communications with Russia, for which he was convicted and is awaiting sentencing.
The Trump administration in its very first week tried to rush through approval of IP3's bid to build nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia until a legal adviser ruled that Flynn had a conflict of interest, the committee said, citing whistleblowers.
IP3's influence has apparently not ended, with the committee voicing alarm at a report by news site Axios that Trump personally met with representatives of the company among other firms just last week.
Another key proponent of transfers to Saudi Arabia, according to the committee, has been Thomas Barrack, a businessman with longstanding interests in the Arab world who organized Trump's inauguration.
He recently drew controversy for playing down Saudi Arabia's killing of Khashoggi, an incident that has hardened views in the U.S. Congress against Prince Muhammad.
Barrack told a forum that "the atrocities in America are equal, or worse" to those in Saudi Arabia, whose agents strangled and dismembered the Washington Post contributor after he was lured into the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, according to officials. Barrack later apologized.
U.S. lawmakers, including some Republican allies of Trump, have been pushing for the United States to distance itself from the Saudi crown prince in the wake of Khashoggi's killing and the devastating Saudi-led, U.S.-backed war on Yemen, where millions are on the brink of starvation in what the United Nations calls the world's most serious humanitarian crisis.
A group of senators including Marco Rubio, a Republican of Florida, last year jointly appealed to Trump to freeze talks on a 123 agreement with Saudi Arabia, questioning the judgment of the kingdom's policymakers.
The United States in 2009 completed a 123 agreement with the United Arab Emirates in which the U.S. ally pledged not to enrich domestic uranium or reprocess spent fuel, steps that could be used to build a nuclear bomb.
Saudi Arabia has walked back from similar promises, with reports even that the occupying regime of Israel might be helping the kingdom with its nuclear quest.
Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif tweeted: "First a dismembered journalist; now illicit sale of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia fully expose #USHypocrisy."
He appeared to be referring to the report, released Tuesday, which said senior White House officials pushed a project to share nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia despite the objections of ethics and national security officials. He also referred to the killing of writer Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in October.
The Trump administration withdrew from a 2015 international agreement with Iran, saying it did not go far enough in restricting Tehran's nuclear activities.
U.S. lawmakers said Tuesday they were probing whether President Donald Trump is rushing to sell sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia to please corporate supporters who stand to profit handsomely.
The House of Representatives committee in charge of investigations, led by the rival Democratic Party since last month, said that "multiple whistleblowers" warned of conflicts of interest "that could implicate federal criminal statutes."
Representative Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, asked the White House to turn over documents including those related to a meeting two months into Trump's tenure between his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Saudi Arabia's powerful Muhammad bin Salman, who shortly afterward became crown prince.
An initial report by the committee said that "strong private commercial interests have been pressing aggressively" to transfer sensitive technology to Saudi Arabia.
"These commercial entities stand to reap billions of dollars through contracts associated with constructing and operating nuclear facilities in Saudi Arabia -- and apparently have been in close and repeated contact with President Trump and his administration to the present day," the report said.
The United States cannot legally transfer nuclear technology to countries without reaching so-called Section 123 agreements, which provide assurances of peaceful energy use.
The House committee voiced fear that Saudi Arabia -- the world's top oil exporter -- could convert U.S. knowhow into making a nuclear bomb.
The committee said that the leading proponent of building nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia has been IP3 International, a company whose subsidiary in 2016 listed retired Army lieutenant general Michael Flynn as an advisor.
Flynn served briefly as Trump's national security adviser before resigning over lying about alleged secret communications with Russia, for which he was convicted and is awaiting sentencing.
The Trump administration in its very first week tried to rush through approval of IP3's bid to build nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia until a legal adviser ruled that Flynn had a conflict of interest, the committee said, citing whistleblowers.
IP3's influence has apparently not ended, with the committee voicing alarm at a report by news site Axios that Trump personally met with representatives of the company among other firms just last week.
Another key proponent of transfers to Saudi Arabia, according to the committee, has been Thomas Barrack, a businessman with longstanding interests in the Arab world who organized Trump's inauguration.
He recently drew controversy for playing down Saudi Arabia's killing of Khashoggi, an incident that has hardened views in the U.S. Congress against Prince Muhammad.
Barrack told a forum that "the atrocities in America are equal, or worse" to those in Saudi Arabia, whose agents strangled and dismembered the Washington Post contributor after he was lured into the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, according to officials. Barrack later apologized.
U.S. lawmakers, including some Republican allies of Trump, have been pushing for the United States to distance itself from the Saudi crown prince in the wake of Khashoggi's killing and the devastating Saudi-led, U.S.-backed war on Yemen, where millions are on the brink of starvation in what the United Nations calls the world's most serious humanitarian crisis.
A group of senators including Marco Rubio, a Republican of Florida, last year jointly appealed to Trump to freeze talks on a 123 agreement with Saudi Arabia, questioning the judgment of the kingdom's policymakers.
The United States in 2009 completed a 123 agreement with the United Arab Emirates in which the U.S. ally pledged not to enrich domestic uranium or reprocess spent fuel, steps that could be used to build a nuclear bomb.
Saudi Arabia has walked back from similar promises, with reports even that the occupying regime of Israel might be helping the kingdom with its nuclear quest.