Under the protocol with Iran, the IAEA ``collects and analyzes hundreds of thousands of images captured daily by its sophisticated surveillance cameras,'' the agency said in 2017.

The State Department said Thursday the U.S. would accept an invitation from the European Union to attend a meeting of the participants in the original agreement.

The supreme leader, 81, has the final say on all matters of state in Iran and approved the efforts at reaching the nuclear deal in 2015.

U.S. President Joe Biden's new administration has said it will rejoin the deal but only after Tehran resumes full compliance with its terms.

Biden, who takes office on Wednesday, has said the United States will rejoin the pact that includes restrictions on Iran's nuclear work if Tehran resumes strict compliance.

Even before the Capitol riot this month, upheaval at home threatened to weaken the U.S. hand internationally, including in the Middle East's nuclear standoff.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday Iran had informed it that it had begun installing equipment for the production of uranium metal.

The Iran nuclear deal, which initially lifted sanctions off Iran in exchange for a limit on their nuclear capabilities, has of late been a smoke point in international relations.

The U.S. Navy routinely has tense encounters with the Revolutionary Guard, whose speed boats race alongside American warships in the Persian Gulf.

Fakhrizadeh, long suspected by Western and Israeli government of masterminding a secret nuclear weapons program, was ambushed on a highway near Tehran on Friday and gunned down in his car.