The Iran Implementing Agreement a Secret Treaty?
Posted: January 13, 2014 Filed under: Nuclear 7 CommentsI wanted to draw attention to Orde Kittrie’s suggestion over at Opinio Juris that the newly announced implementing agreement for the November Joint Plan of Action is a “secret treaty.”
I responded in the comments to the piece as follows:
I certainly dont have any inside information about the new implementation agreement, but my impression has been that the negotiations since the November agreement have been to hash out quite technical details concerning the original agreement. It doesnt make much sense to me that the original agreement would have been informal, but the technical implementing agreement would not be some secret formal agreement. If I were a betting man I’d put money on this new implementing agreement also being informal. And the reason it hasnt been released is likely due to the technical sensitivity of the details that have been worked out between the parties. People like Kittrie who are opposed to the deal, may be simply trying to sow seeds of suspicion, and thereby mobilize opposition to it.
Readers may remember Kittrie as one of the co-authors (along with David Albright and Sandy Spector) of a rather infamous report last year on how to address proliferation problems in the ME. I wrote about it at the time, and included links to critics’ comments, here.
Arms Control Law 
Yes, the secret treaty also contains a copy of Obama’s true birth certificate from the hospital in Tehran.
I KNEW IT!!! Somebody call Donald Trump!
Yes, am waiting for the forthcoming ISIS report by Kittrie, Albright and Trump.
I think he may be mistaking an unreleased technical (informal) side agreement with a treaty:
http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-iran-nuclear-side-deal-20140113,0,4116168.story#axzz2qNeGKQlA
(see the updates in that story)
Yes, I think that’s exactly right. They’ve been negotiating about very sensitive technical details relating to implementation of the November agreement. It makes sense that they would have written down their agreed understandings, and it also makes sense that they wouldn’t want these to be made public, at least not in their entitety, particularly from the Iranian side, because of the sensitivity of the information. But it makes no sense to me at all that this agreement on implementation would be a formal treaty. I really think the secret treaty rumor is purposed solely in giving fodder to Republicans and conservative pundits who oppose the deal.
[…] The Iran Implementing Agreement a Secret Treaty? […]
Public summary:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/16/summary-technical-understandings-related-implementation-joint-plan-actio