The announcement Friday of Yukiya Amano's trip to Washington did not mention the dispute. The International Atomic Energy Agency said only that Amano will meet members of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Wednesday to "discuss the IAEA's role in verifying and monitoring nuclear-related measures" under the July 14 deal.
But senators are sure to grill Amano on the alleged side deals, as the trip coincides with furious lobbying between opponents and supporters of the pact during a 60-day congressional review.
Amano's trip comes amid Iranian accusations that Washington is violating the deal by suggesting that that the enhanced IAEA surveillance would bring the benefit of making any potential attack on Tehran's atomic program more potent. Reza Najafi, the IAEA's chief Iranian delegate, quoted White House spokesman Josh Earnest as saying that would result in more pinpointed US or Israeli military action against Iran if needed "because we'd been spending the intervening number of years gathering significantly more detail about Iran's nuclear program.