WASHINGTON — President Obama took another step toward implementing the Iran nuclear deal Friday, empowering the secretary of State to allow the export of civilian passenger aircraft to Iran.

White House officials stressed Friday that no sanctions relief will happen until Iran lives up to its end of the deal — and the International Atomic Energy Agency verifies its compliance. That verification may be imminent, they said.

"They have nearly completed their major nuclear steps, and that's nothing to gloss over," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said at a luncheon hosted by Bloomberg News Friday. "It's a significant rollback in the Iranian program."

Rhodes said that the IAEA certification will trigger what's known as "Implementation Day."

"That should happen relatively soon, certainly in the coming days. That is when sanctions relief is initiated," he said.

The nuclear agreement lifts only part of the U.S. sanctions against Iran, and sanctions for Iran's human rights violations and support of terrorism will remain in place. And while the U.S. trade embargo remains largely intact, the agreement makes two exceptions: Iran can buy U.S. civilian passenger aircraft, and sell certain crafts — specifically, carpets and rugs — to the United States.

In 2010, Congress granted Obama the authority to allow exports of goods, services, or technologies to Iran if he determines those sales "to be in the national interest." On Friday, Obama delegated that authority to Secretary of State John Kerry through a presidential memorandum, a presidential directive similar to an executive order.

In a letter to Obama Friday, 13 Republican senators called for new sanctions on Iran for ballistic missile tests it conducted last year. "Iran’s belligerent actions have thus far gone unpunished," said the letter, written by Sen. David Purdue, R-Ga.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Friday that the sanctions relief under the nuclear deal doesn't preclude the United States from taking action against Iran on other fronts.

"We have been quite clear from the very beginning — long before a deal was even reached — that the negotiations were focused primarily on Iran’s nuclear program. That was our number one concern. It’s also the number one concern of our allies in Israel, as well," he said. "And we’ve been pretty clear about the fact that Iran is potentially subject to significant sanctions as a result of the ballistic missile testing that has been reported. So we're going to continue to apply pressure to them."

By USA Today