UN confirms Iran compliance to nuclear deal

Iran is still sticking to the 2015 nuclear accord with major powers even as tensions rise between Tehran and US President Donald Trump, a UN atomic watchdog report showed yesterday.

Trump has vowed to "dismantle" the "disastrous" deal and has ratcheted up US sanctions, calling for Iran to be isolated and throwing his weight behind Tehran's arch rival Saudi Arabia.

The new International Atomic Energy Agency report, seen by AFP, showed Iran's nuclear activities remain much reduced, making any push to make an atomic bomb much harder than before the agreement.

Iran's stock of low-enriched uranium -- used for peaceful purposes, but when further processed for a weapon -- remained below the agreed limit of 300 kilogrammes (661 pounds), the report said.

The quarterly assessment said Iran "has not pursued the construction of the Arak... reactor" -- which could give it weapons-grade plutonium -- and has not enriched uranium above low purity levels.

Iran's stock of heavy water, used as a reactor coolant, was 128.2 tonnes. Iran has inched above an agreed ceiling of 130 tonnes a number of times since the deal came into force.

The mammoth agreement between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany was agreed in Vienna after years of rising tensions in July 2015 and came into force in January 2016.

It saw Iran substantially reduce its nuclear programme and submit to ultra-close IAEA oversight, making much tougher any "breakout" attempt to make a bomb before the world can react.