Story highlights New report says US and international community granted Iran "secret" exemptions to nuclear deal

State Department officials insist Iran was in full compliance with nuclear agreement

Washington (CNN) The US and other members of the international community granted Iran exemptions to its requirements under the agreement that sought to curb its nuclear program, according to a new report by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security.

The alleged granting of "secret" exemptions to Iran by the Joint Commission, the deal's implementing body, is likely to thrust the controversial accord, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), back into the political spotlight.

The report says "most of the conditions" laid out in the agreement "were met by Iran" but it also claims Iran would have not been in compliance by January 16, 2016, the deal's so-called Implementation Day, without the exemptions to the requirement that Iran limit its stockpile of low enriched uranium to under 300-kilograms. The exemptions supposedly pertained to uranium in "waste form," according to the report, but the authors noted that that waste was potentially recoverable.

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

"Any rationale for keeping these exemptions secret appears unjustified," the report said.

Read More