Pleased that yesterday a member of your caucus acknowledges however, the full sentence was anytime, anywhere in the sense of a welldefined process with a welldefined end time so i am pleased that we have established that. In fact, the iaea can request access to any suspicious location with 24 hours notice under the Additional Protocol which iran will implement. The deal does not change that baseline. The issue if an agreement is not reached then when the iaea requests access the 24day clock will start. This is a new tool a finite time, a new tool for resolving disputes within what we think is a short period of time and short is defined because of our confidence in environmental sampling that we will be able to have to implement to detect microscopic traces of materials even after attempts are made to remove the evidence of activities with Nuclear Material. In fact, irans history provides a good example. In february of 2003, the iaea requested access to a suspicious facility in tehran,
Effective inspections and i hope our witnesses will deal with that today because that is a matter of major concern. We need to know the answer to that. Have we cut off all pathways for iran to obtain a Nuclear Weapon particularly the Covert Military use operations . We know that is a major concern. That is why the pmd is particularly important, the chairman mentioned the pmd and the work that iaei, our International Inspectors. They have great credibility in this area. But we want to know whether they have the capacity to do what we are asking them to do and will they have the access they need because we need to know about the prior military dimension to go forward to make sure we can contain any opportunity they may use for covert activities and will we discover it and be able to take action. These are questions were going to ask. We read the agreement. And we still have questions. And we hope well get answers as to whether we have effectively prevented iran from using covert activiti
Appropriate review for congress. It allows us to take action, or we dont have to take action. It recognizes the fact that the sanction regime was passed by congress and that we have a role to play in regards to implementing any agreement as we now see in the jcpoa, that congress has a role to play. So its set up an orderly process. And this hearing is part of that process. It took you two years to negotiate this agreement. It took you two months in vienna to get to the final details. Were on day 4 of our review of 60 days. I have not reached the conclusion. And i would hope that most members, i would hope the members of the congress would want to get all the information allow those who are directly involved to make their case. We have hearings set up next week and the following week, and well get outside experts. Many of us have taken advantage of that opportunity in the past. And i would hope that weve all used that opportunity before drawing a conclusion. This is a very important agr
Action against iran particularly in light of additional resources, can we do that and can Congress Work with the administration to strengthen those tools without violating the jcpla . I want to know how the administration is updating its Regional Strategies against the various iranian activities and how we are going to work with our partners to build up their capacities to counter iran especially israel. The chairman mentioned the lifting of the International Arms embargo. That is a great concern. How will it impact the arms race in that region of the world . These are questions that we need to get the best information we can in making our decisions. And lastly, let me mention this because i think it is critically important. What are our options if United States walks away . How will we be perceived internationally . Will we be able to maintain effective enforcement of sanctions with our International Partners and will iran come back to a negotiating table with a country that has walke
Come to order. I want to thank the witnesses for being here today. And we look forward to a fulsome hearing. I want to thank those, also in attendance. I know there was a little bit of an outbreak prior to us convene convening. We thank you for being here. We do hope youll respect that now the meetings in order. Outbursts of any kind are unwarranted and will respect the democratic process that is taking place here. So, again, we thank you for beg being here. We also thank you for your courtesy as we move ahead. I know the witnesses have agreed to be here as long as we wish. So well start with sevenminute questions. I do know based on last nights presentation, theres sometimes a tendency for witnesses to want to interject. And what i would say is, obviously we conduct our meetings with a lot of respect and courtesy. And i would just ask the witnesses if they would to respond directly to the question from senators on both sides of the aisle as if they ask when you ask it directly to a wi