Senior Congress Aide on Iran: "People here wondering what the f—k is going on."

Senior Congress Aide on Iran: "People here wondering what the F—k is going on." (FreeBeacon).

Iran is refusing to relinquish its stockpiles of enriched nuclear materials, throwing a potential complication into negotiations that are set to expire tomorrow, according to senior State Department officials and Iranian diplomats.

Iran rejected on Monday ongoing demands by Western powers that it export to Russia its stockpiles of enriched uranium, the key component in a nuclear bomb.

The issue has emerged as a sticking point in talks over the last day, with Iran now rejecting any potential compromise on this front. The State Department said that the issue has been up in the air for months, according to sources close to the negotiations.

“The export of stocks of enriched uranium is not in our program, and we do not intend sending them abroad,” Abbas Araqchi, an Iranian negotiator and diplomat, was quoted as telling the country’s state-run press. “There is no question of sending the stocks abroad.”

A subsequent New York Times article claiming that discussions over the issue have hit a wall in the last day prompted the State Department to reveal that negotiations over the export of uranium have been stuck for quite some time.

“Contrary to the report in the New York Times, the issue of how Iran’s stockpile would be disposed of had not yet been decided in the negotiating room, even tentatively,” a senior State Department official told the Free Beacon on Monday. “There is no question that disposition of their stockpile is essential to ensuring the program is exclusively peaceful.”

Marie Harf, a spokeswoman for the State Department, reiterated that the United States had yet to reach any sort of agreement on the issue as the two sides work to strike a “political understanding” over the next 36 hours.

“The bottom line is we don’t have an agreement with the Iranians on the stockpile issue,” Harf told reporters in telephone call. “It’s still an outstanding issue.”

One source familiar with the talks told the Free Beacon that the Obama administration had been promising members of Congress that Iran would consent to export its uranium.

“Administration officials told lawmakers they’d get the Iranians to make a concession, then the Iranians refused to make that concession, and now the State Department is pretending they never expected anything anyway,” said the source.

“The White House briefed lawmakers and told them the Iranians were willing to ship out their stockpile,” the source said. “That was the whole justification for jacking up centrifuge numbers to 6,000. State Department spokespeople are basically gaslighting reporters by pretending otherwise.”

Congressional opposition to the administration’s diplomacy has put “additional pressure on our side,” Harf said.

One senior congressional aide familiar with Republican thinking on the negotiations said that lawmakers are extremely displeased by what was taking place in Switzerland.

“Quite frankly, people here are wondering what the f—k is going on,” said the senior staffer, who would only speak on background. “Why, after a year of negotiations, are major, consequential issues like whether Iran can keep its stockpile of highly-enriched uranium being debated just before the clock strikes midnight?”

Even Democrats are beginning to have reservations about the deal, according to the source.

“The Iranians seem to be successfully capitalizing on the fact that the Administration is in dire desperation mode to get a deal,” the source said. “Even the president’s most loyal Democrats in Congress are finding it near-impossible to defend what appears to be a worse deal than anyone ever imagined.”Hmmmm......In case you haven't noticed yet....the Obama 'admin' lies.Read the full story here.