Reuters- The U.S. State Department said that Iran is taking steps to ship out heavy water produced in excess of a soft limit set under its nuclear deal with major powers, as reported by the U.N. atomic watchdog on Wednesday.

"It's important to note that Iran made no effort to hide this," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a regular press briefing when asked about the report.

It is the second time Tehran has surpassed the 130 metric tonne threshold for heavy water, a material used as a moderator in reactors like Iran's unfinished one at Arak, since the deal was put in place in January. It had 130.1 tonnes of the material on Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a confidential report seen by Reuters.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammad; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)