White House denies Iran had 'secret' exemptions for nuke pact

The White House is denying that the Obama administration and other Western powers agreed to give Iran "secret" exemptions from key provisions of the nuclear pact to help it meet a January implementation deadline.

A White House official took issue with the word "secret" and broadly referred to claims in a new report by the independent Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security as more "misinformation and distortion" by critics of the nuclear deal.

"The United States and its partners did not and will not allow Iran to skirt its Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action commitments," the official said. "Iran completed all of the steps required to get to Implementation Day under the JCPOA, as verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency."

"Any assertion to the contrary is completely false, including any assertion that we moved forward with Implementation Day before Iran met all of its nuclear-related commitments," the official added in a statement sent to the Washington Examiner.

That statement, however, focused mainly on whether the exemptions were secret, not if they allowed Iran to meet implementation deadlines. The White House explanation also didn't address specific exemptions laid out in the report and whether they were included.