State Department senior advisor Marie Harf said the administration is confident that polls will swing in their favor on the Iran deal because “when the questions are asked, the more information you give people about the deal, the more they like it.”
“And I think that that’s an important trajectory that we certainly find heartening when it comes to some of these polls. I also think that there is a general mistrust in the United States that’s not unfounded based on the history here that just doesn’t trust Iran,” Harf told CNN.
“And so I think that people are naturally inclined to be skeptical. And that’s why this deal isn’t based on trust. It’s based on verification of all these nuclear steps Iran has.”
According to the latest CNN poll, 52 percent of Americans surveyed think it’s a bad deal and just 44 percent said Congress should approve the nuclear accord.
Harf also insisted that the agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran, which the Obama administration doesn’t have a copy of, wasn’t a “secret” agreement.
“Members of Congress are going to be briefed in detail. Some already have been briefed in detail,” she said. “Every aspect of the safeguards confidential to use a technical term, agreement between the IAEA and Iran. They are referenced in the joint comprehensive plan of action. So these aren’t secret. They are there. The existence of them is widely known publicly, has been since we announced the deal.”
Every member of Congress, she said, is “entitled to be briefed” on the provisions.
“Now, the IAEA does business in a certain way. With every country it has these kinds of agreements, including us, including the U.S. They keep some information out of the public domain for very good reasons in terms of how you protect nuclear technology secrets, in order, basically, to not let this information get out,” Harf added.
“…Our experts are comfortable with that arrangement, and they can brief Congress on that, and they will.”
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