The report, which was released by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, is based on information provided by several officials of governments involved in the negotiations. The group’s president David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector and co-author of the report, declined to identify the officials, and Rooters could not independently verify the report’s assertions.
"The exemptions or loopholes are happening in secret, and it appears that they favor Iran," Albright said.
The report ignited a chorus of Republican criticism, including from the campaign of presidential nominee Donald Trump. His campaign sought to link the findings to Trump’s Democratic opponent,
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, who was secretary of state when secret talks were held with Iran but had left office before formal negotiations began.
"The deeply flawed nuclear deal Hillary Clinton secretly spearheaded with Iran looks worse and worse by the day," said a statement issued by retired Army General Michael Flynn, a top Trump adviser. "It’s now clear President B.O. gave away the store to secure a weak agreement that is full of loopholes."
The Clinton campaign did not immediately comment on the report.
Among the exemptions were two that allowed Iran to exceed the deal’s limits on how much low-enriched uranium (LEU) it can keep in its nuclear facilities, the report said. LEU can be purified into highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium.
The exemptions, the report said, were approved by the joint commission the deal created to oversee implementation of the accord. The commission is comprised of the United States and its negotiating partners -- called the P5+1 -- and Iran.
One senior "knowledgeable" official was cited by the report as saying that if the joint commission had not acted to create these exemptions, some of Iran’s nuclear facilities would not have been in compliance with the deal by Jan. 16, the deadline for the beginning of the lifting of sanctions.