Republican leaders of the House oversight committee announced on Friday that they are investigating whether the Obama administration undermined an ongoing effort from preventing illegal Iranian weapons smuggling, jeopardizing  US security, in order to push through the nuclear deal with Iran.

Politico reported on Friday that 13 Republican senators, led by Republican Representatives Jason Chaffetz and Ron DeSantis sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and another letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, asking for material relating to the January 16, 2016, prisoner exchange agreement with Iran, including the negotiations that preceded it. The investigation is focusing on  21 Iranian-born men for whom the U.S. dropped convictions or charges and international arrest warrants. The senators also wanted to know if the men, pardoned by the Obama administration, were still involved in illicit activities for Iran.

The investigation promises to be more far-reaching, as the senators asked for information about whether State and Justice department officials delayed or blocked efforts to lure Iranian suspects to U.S.-friendly countries so they could be arrested.

The senators gave the respective departments unitl May 19 to provide the material and to have staff available for briefings.  t demanded an investigation into whether President Obama misled the public about details of the Iran deal in January 2016. There are also suspicions that the Obama administration hampered a federal law enforcement  effort known as the National Counterproliferation Initiative.

Politico reported that Obama misled the public when he told the public the agreement with Iran released “civilians”, or businessmen. The men released were, in fact, accused by the Justice department of security related offenses, including on Iranian accused of procuring technology used in nuclear weapons programs.