Did Sen. Michael Bennet lie repeatedly when he told Coloradans that the president’s Iran nuclear deal will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon?

This week the world found out that Iran is closer than ever to obtaining a nuclear weapon and that the Obama administration hid key details about the agreement from the public. In a story that was lost in the noise of the Republican National Convention, the Associated Press reported on a secret document connected to the controversial Iran nuclear deal that lifts key restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program four years before the so-called “deal” expires, putting Iran within six months of nuclear capability.

We do not know the extent to which the administration has hidden more unsettling information about the Iran deal, and when we find out, it may be too late for it to matter. We do know that Bennet attended secret, closed-door meetings at the White House during the debate over the passage of the Iran deal.

This seats Bennet at a prime table at an all-you-can-eat crow buffet. He tirelessly peddled to Coloradans the myth that the president’s Iran nuclear deal would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon for the full term of the agreement. Did he know about the side deal, or did he support it without ensuring he had all the facts?

Meanwhile, Iran’s compliance with the agreement is weak at best. Recently, Ali Larijani, president of Iran’s parliament, instructed the leading state sponsor of terror’s atomic energy organization to prepare to reopen multiple nuclear sites that were closed when the agreement began. This latest aggression came in response to a United Nations report that criticized Iran’s string of prohibited ballistic missile tests.

Bennet, who voted three times in support of the Iran deal, repeatedly claimed the nuclear deal would calm the seas and forge a more secure global stage instilling peace and harmony. The exact opposite has happened and we are looking at an ever-emboldened and highly volatile Iran.

Even without the side deal, the Iran nuclear agreement is nothing but a total scam. The secret document makes it even weaker, and recent developments illustrate its irresponsibility. Let’s review:

?The inspection regime is completely toothless. The well-known “24-day period” doesn’t begin until the conclusion of a lengthy bureaucratic and diplomatic process involving numerous nations and international agencies; it could take months before the 24-day period even begins. Of course, an earlier secret side deal allows Iran to self-inspect at the Parchin military facility, making the enforcement mechanism even more futile.

?It is naïve to believe that a sanctions regime that took decades to develop could be instantly “snapped back” in the event Iran doesn’t live up to the agreement, as seems increasingly likely. Countries that previously observed the sanctions have been developing deep commercial ties with Iran that will be painful to unravel.

?The deal requires no dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure; they are permitted to keep their current centrifuges in storage. Even if it fully complies with its obligations, Iran remains on the threshold of nuclear capability – and crossing this threshold is made even easier by the newly-leaked side deal.

?The Iran deal legitimizes this rogue regime as a near-nuclear nation. Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorism, gained a red carpet to the bomb, financed with $150 billion of immediate sanctions relief.

?This side deal makes the implications for Israel – our closest ally in that part of the world – even worse. The path to nuclear status of a nation sworn to Israel’s destruction is even shorter than we were all told.

?The Iran deal does nothing to curb Iran’s despicable behavior outside the nuclear arena. Continuing ballistic missile tests and humiliating U.S. sailors at gunpoint show that there are few remaining incentives for acting as a responsible nation.

At the time the original deal was proposed, Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, of New York, former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also opposed the deal saying, “If Iran is to acquire a nuclear bomb, it will not have my name on it.” Sadly, it may have Bennet’s, which will be painted right below, “Israel will be wiped out,” and right above “Death to America.”

The existence of this secret side deal, leaked during the convention to avoid public notice, makes the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran even more irresponsible and the process by which is was passed even more dishonest.

Either Bennet was negligent in understanding the totality of the deal, or he was – and is – dishonest when he justifies his support for the deal.

A chief critic of Sen. Michael Bennet’s support for the Iran deal, Jonathan Lockwood is the executive director of Advancing Colorado. His commentary on Bennet’s support of the Iran deal has been featured internationally from Israel to New Zealand in over 150 publications.

Eric Weissmann is a Boulder businessman and former Congressional candidate.