US, others agreed 'secret' exemptions for Iran after nuclear deal

The uranium can be configured into weapons-grade uranium.

The report's authors, David Albright and Andrea Stricker, went on to blast President Barack Obama's administration for keeping these exemptions secret.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he has never been optimistic about the U.S. genuine desire to honor its commitments, Tasnim informs.

"There has been no loosening of Iran's commitments and there have been no exceptions given", said State Department spokesman John Kirby at a daily press conference.

However, one member of Congress who is a vocal critic of the Iran deal said he had not seen any such information.

Meanwhile, the USA administration said the world powers negotiating the deal did not agree on any secret exemptions.

Robert Einhorn, a nonproliferation scholar at the Brookings Institution, said the confidentiality surrounding the Joint Commission is understandable but potentially problematic.

"Recently the Joint Commission created a Technical Working Group to consider further exemptions to Iran's stock of 3.5 percent low enriched uranium", Albright added in the report. Hot cells are special containers that allow technicians to handle radioactive matter with special gloves while being shielded. "It's now clear President Obama gave away the store to secure a weak agreement that is full of loopholes, never ultimately blocks Iran from nuclear weapons, emboldens our enemies and funds terrorism..."

"We aren't saying anything has been violated here", Albright said. It also noted that Iran under the deal was permitted to maintain the larger hot cells with the approval of the joint commission. The National Republican Congressional Committee issued news releases citing the report and criticizing Democratic candidates who supported the nuclear deal.

"Secret doesn't mean evil".

And about this business that they briefed Congress every step of the way, how much of a crock is that when even the Democrat Sen.

"Every nuclear agreement has had confidential annexes", said Jim Walsh, a contributor with the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, and a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's security studies program.

"Under the Chemical Weapons Convention, the United States had to destroy its stockpile by 2012, but it wasn't possible to meet that deadline".