Two Republican members of the US Congress claim that the nuclear deal with Iran hinges on two secret side agreements that the Obama administration has not seen.

The agreements between the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran on how the Islamic Republic would comply with checks on its bomb-making programme were uncovered by chance by Congressmen Mike Pompeo and Tom Cotton while meeting members of the nuclear monitoring agency in Vienna.

Mr Pompeo told the Washington Post that while he and Mr Cotton were meeting the deputy director of the IAEA and the agency’s two top Iran negotiators just days after the nuclear deal was announced, they asked how the agency would carry out verification at the Iranian military complex at Parchin.

IAEA officials told them, that the details were all covered in agreements negotiated between the IAEA and the Iranian government.

When Mr Pompeo asked to see those agreements, IAEA officials reportedly replied: “Oh no, of course not, no, you’re not going to get to see those.”

When asked if Secretary of State John Kerry had seen the documents, the official said: “No, Secretary Kerry hasn’t seen them. No American is ever going to get to see them.”

Mr Pompeo told the Washington Post: “We need to see these documents in order to evaluate whether or not verification is ample to make such a big concession to the Iranians. No member of Congress should be asked to vote on an agreement of this historic importance without knowing what the terms of the verification process are.”

According to Republican Senator Bob Menendez, one of the side deals governing inspections of the Parchin military complex allows Iran to collect its own soil samples, instead of IAEA inspectors.

“I suspect if we’re able to actually go over [these agreements], you find half a dozen that you would stare at and realize we really didn’t get verification,” Mr Pompeo said.