Iranian officials on Tuesday denied reports that the Islamic Republic had been caught breaching sanctions to acquire materials for use at its Arak facility, a day after Foreign Policy released details of a confidential United Nations report that found Tehran to be illicitly obtaining the equipment. Foreign Policy cited sources who identified the U.S. as the country that had informed the UN Panel of Experts on Iran of the Tehran’s efforts to procure the materials:

The delegation, the report continued, “informed the panel that it had observed no recent downturn in procurement” in recent months.

State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki on Monday told journalists that it was “not breaking news that we are concerned about Iran’s procurement activities.” The discovery in early 2013 that Iran had resumed progress on the Arak facility, which contains a heavy water production facility and the reactor, was described at the time as the Islamic republic’s “Plan B” for acquiring a nuclear weapon. Arak has been a top issue in negotiations between Iran and the P5+1, with Iran only agreeing to minimal, reversible modifications that would see the reactor produce less plutonium:

The heavy-water unit would produce substantial amounts of plutonium that can be used as the fissile core of a missile. The US has sought a completely new kind of reactor that produces only minuscule amounts of plutonium. The Iranians would rather re-engineer it to produce less plutonium — but that process is reversible.

Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking at a conference in Washington on Sunday, predicted an agreement with Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program in “three, four months, and hopefully even sooner if that is possible.” Kerry’s estimate was met with skepticism by The Washington Post’s editorial board on Monday, which called Kerry’s comment “jarring” in light of the months-long detention of the Post’s Tehran correspondent Jason Rezaian. The editorial board flatly stated, “If Iranian officials are unresponsive in the case of Mr. Rezaian, how can they be expected to deliver on commitments they make with respect to the nuclear program?”

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