Pope Francis Speaks To America - Iran Takes Parchin Nuclear Samples Without IAEA

Speaker Boehner greets Pope Francis
No attribution provided for this official photo.

Today in Washington, D.C. - Sept. 24, 2015:  This morning, senators and representatives gathered for a Joint Meeting of Congress. At 10 AM, Pope Francis addressed the Joint Meeting. Pope Francis is not only the head of the world-wide Catholic Church (The Holy See), he the "head of state" for Vatican City. The U.S. established a official diplomatic relationships with Vatican City under President Ronald Reagan. Ken Francis Hackett is the present U.S Ambassador to the Holy See (Vatican City)

The House will not have any floor proceedings today. Update at 1:02 PM: The House reconvened, returning from a recess continued the legislative day of September 22.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today welcomed Pope Francis to the United States Capitol, where he became the first Pope to ever address a joint meeting of Congress. After the Pope’s visit, Boehner issued the following statement: “What a day. What a moment for our country. I’m so proud that so many came to greet the Pope here at our Capitol, the world’s greatest symbol of democracy. The Holy Father’s visit is surely a blessing for all of us. With great blessings, of course, come great responsibility. Let us all go forth with gratitude and reflect on how we can better serve one another. Let us all go forth and live up to the words, God bless America.”

The Senate will reconvene at 1 PM and resume consideration of H.J. Res. 61, now the vehicle for the continuing resolution (CR).

At 2 PM, the Senate will vote on cloture on Cochran substitute amendment #2669 which contains the text of the CR. The CR would fund the government through mid-December. The CR would and would divert funding from Planned Parenthood to actual women’s health centers.

On Tuesday, Democrats filibustered the motion to begin debate on H.R. 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.

They later followed up by again blocking an attempt to move to the regular appropriations process, filibustering the Defense appropriations bill, H.R. 2685.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported, “Iranian nuclear experts have taken environmental samples from the military base at Parchin without United Nations inspectors being present, the spokesman for Iran's atomic energy agency was quoted as saying on Monday.

“The procedure for taking the samples, which could shed light on whether Iran's nuclear program ever had a military dimension, has been under intense discussion since Tehran reached a nuclear deal with world powers in July.

“Western diplomats told Reuters earlier this month inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, would observe samples being taken.

“‘Iranian experts took samples from specific locations in Parchin facilities this week without IAEA's inspectors being present,’ Behruz Kamalvandi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.”

This is precisely what the AP reported would happen last month when it revealed one of the secret side deals between Iran and the IAEA. Some supporters of the president’s Iran deal cast doubt on the accuracy of that reporting at the time, but it seems that the Iranians have indeed gone ahead and taken their own samples from their own military site.

The Wall Street Journal editors call these samples “Iran’s Nuclear Selfies” and again criticize this arrangement and the Iran deal. “The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Monday that Iran had turned over samples that the Iranians had themselves collected from the military site that IAEA inspectors haven’t been allowed to visit in a decade. . . . . . . [T]heir authenticity and integrity are not the decisive issues. What matters is whether they provide a complete picture of Iran’s previous nuclear work.”

They write, “We are a long way from the go-anywhere, look-at-anything inspections that President Obama promised during negotiations. The Parchin selfies are especially dangerous because they are likely to set a new arms-control precedent for inspecting contested military sites in the future.

“Gone are the kind of intrusive inspections that even Saddam Hussein had to tolerate until he kicked out inspectors. This is now the era of the selfie inspection, when rogue regimes provide their own samples, and inspectors-at-a-distance announce their gratitude for the cooperation.”

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