Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, announced on Wednesday that a new factory capable of producing 60 nuclear centrifuge rotors per day is completed and ready to go online if the nuclear deal collapses.

He also said Iran has been steadily acquiring uranium despite the “denuclearization” agreement and now has 950 tons of uranium ready to enrich.

Salehi said these measures were taken in accordance with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s order to prepare for the collapse of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal), following the American withdrawal. He then admitted Iran was working on the centrifuge factory and piling up uranium even before the ink dried on the nuclear deal, as Reuters reported:

“Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but have not started it,” Salehi, said, according to state media. “Of course, the [Supreme Leader] was completely informed and we gave him the necessary information at the time. And now that he has given the order this factory has started all its work.” The factory would have the capacity to build rotors for up to 60 IR-6 centrifuges per day, he added. Separately, Salehi said that Iran now had a stockpile of up to 950 tons of uranium. He said Iran had imported 550 tons of uranium before the nuclear agreement and had acquired approximately another 400 tons after the agreement was finalized, bringing the total stockpile to between 900 and 950 tons. Salehi did not specify where the additional 400 tons of uranium had come from.

Iran’s lone civilian nuclear power plant requires just 27 tons of fuel per year, but Salehi claimed Iran’s entirely peaceful domestic uranium needs require searching for new deposits in Iran and spinning up the large-scale processing facility in Isfahan.

AFP quoted a spokesman for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization pitching his agency’s activities as nuclear blackmail against wavering Europeans:

“We have of course adopted some measures in order to prepare the ground for eventually increasing the level of enrichment if it is needed and if the negotiations with the Europeans fail,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman and vice-president of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told a news conference in Tehran. “We are of course continuing to carry out and implement our obligations based on the JCPOA,” he said, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that put strict limits on its atomic program in return for sanctions relief. “But at the same time, taking every scenario into consideration, we are preparing ourselves,” he added.

France, Germany, and the U.K. offered Iran a package of “economic guarantees” this month to keep them in the deal, but Iran judged their offer “insufficient” and demanded more.

Iran has declared its patience with negotiations is running out and the Europeans had better pony up more tribute quickly. European leaders are squirming under these demands because they know it will be difficult to convince their corporations to do business with Iran under the threat of secondary U.S. sanctions.

Iran is flirting with cryptocurrencies to alleviate these concerns by reducing American economic leverage, as the mullahs nervously eye their declining economy and wonder if the next protest movement might be too much for them to control.

While Iran was busy making a mockery of President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal by piling up a mountain of radioactive material and revealing it was never more than a month away from enriching it on an enormous scale, it was also busy filing suit against the Trump administration at the International Court of Justice, alleging that pulling out of the JCPOA was a crime. </s> Iran has begun enriching uranium to 4.5% – breaking the limit set by its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, semi-official news agencies in the country reported.

The acknowledgement by the spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran comes a day after Iran pledged to break the deal’s limit of 3.67%.

The decision to ramp up uranium enrichment came less than a week after Iran acknowledged breaking the 300-kilogram limit on its low-enriched uranium stockpile.

Experts warn higher enrichment and a growing stockpile could begin to narrow the one-year window Iran would need to have enough material for an atomic bomb, something Iran denies it wants but the deal prevented.

The future of the accord that President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the US from a year ago remains in question.

While Iran’s recent measures to increase enrichment and break its low-enriched uranium stockpile limit could be easily reversed, Europe has struggled to respond, even after getting a 60-day warning that the increase was coming.

Meanwhile, experts fear a miscalculation in the crisis could explode into open conflict, as President Trump already has nearly bombed Iran over Tehran shooting down a US military surveillance drone.

President Trump warned Tehran on Sunday that “Iran better be careful”.

He did not elaborate on what actions the US might consider, but he told reporters: “Iran’s doing a lot of bad things.”

Iran has been closely monitored by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

“We are aware of Iran’s announcement related to its uranium enrichment level,” the agency said. “We are in the process of verifying this development.”

Enriched uranium at the 3.67% level is enough for peaceful pursuits but is far below weapons-grade levels of 90%.

The semi-official news agencies ISNA and Fars reported the 4.5% enrichment figure, citing Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s nuclear agency.

Mr Kamalvandi separately hinted in a state television interview aired on Monday that the country might consider going to 20% enrichment or higher as a third step, if the material is needed.

That would worry nuclear nonproliferation experts, as 20% is a short technical step away from reaching weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Mr Kamalvandi also suggested using new or more centrifuges, which are limited by the deal.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Monday said Iran appreciated the efforts of some nations to save the deal, but offered a jaded tone on whether Tehran trusted anyone in the negotiations.

“We have no hope nor trust in anyone nor any country but the door of diplomacy is open,” Mr Mousavi said. </s> DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran announced on Monday it would soon breach limits on the amount of enriched uranium it can stockpile under a 2015 international agreement, in a new point of contention with the United States, which accused Tehran of “nuclear blackmail.”

Tensions between Iran and the United States are rising more than a year after President Donald Trump announced Washington was withdrawing from the nuclear deal. Fears of a confrontation increased last week when oil tankers in the Gulf were attacked.

The accord, which Iran and the other signatories have maintained following Trump’s decision, caps Iran’s stock of low-enriched uranium at 300 kg enriched to 3.67 percent.

But Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Monday: “We have quadrupled the rate of enrichment (of uranium) and even increased it more recently, so that in 10 days it will bypass the 300 kg limit.”

“Iran’s reserves are every day increasing at a more rapid rate,” he told state TV, adding that “the move will be reversed once other parties fulfil their commitments.”

The move further undermines the nuclear pact also signed by Russia, Britain, Germany, China and the European Union, but Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the collapse of the deal would not be in the interests of the region or the world.

A White House National Security Council spokesman said Iran’s plan amounted to “nuclear blackmail” and must be met with increased international pressure.

The nuclear deal seeks to head off any pathway to an Iranian nuclear bomb in return for the removal of most international sanctions.

Britain said if Iran breached agreed limits then London would look at “all options.”

Israel, Iran’s arch foe, urged world powers to step up sanctions against Tehran swiftly should it exceed the enriched uranium limit.

However, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the EU would only react to any breach if the International Atomic Energy Agency formally identified one.

U.S.-Iran tensions are growing again following attacks last Thursday on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, a vital oil shipping route. Trump’s administration has accused Iran of being behind the incidents. Iran denies having any role.

Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, Major General Mohammad Baqeri, on Monday denied Tehran was behind the attacks and said if the Islamic Republic decided to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz shipping lane it would do so publicly.

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said Tehran was responsible for security in the Gulf and urged U.S. forces to leave the region, state TV said.

Iran on Monday accused its main regional rival Saudi Arabia - a close U.S. ally - of adopting a “militaristic, crisis-based approach” for accusing Tehran of carrying out the tanker attacks.

In May, Tehran said it would reduce compliance with the nuclear pact in protest at the U.S. decision to unilaterally pull out of the agreement and reimpose sanctions.

The accord requires Iran to curb its uranium enrichment capacity, capping Iran’s stock of low-enriched uranium at 300 kg of uranium hexafluoride enriched to 3.67 percent or its equivalent for 15 years. That is far below the 90 percent needed for weapons grade uranium and also below the 20 percent level to which Iran enriched uranium before the deal.

A series of U.N. inspections under the deal have verified that Iran has been meeting its commitments.

Iran’s Rouhani said on Monday that European nations still had time to save the accord.

“It’s a crucial moment, and France can still work with other signatories of the deal and play an historic role to save the deal in this very short time,” Rouhani was quoted as saying during a meeting with France’s new ambassador in Iran.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he regretted Iran’s announcement but that Paris would hold talks with Iran and its partners to avoid any further escalation in the region.

Kamalvandi, in a news conference at Iran’s Arak heavy water nuclear reactor which has been reconfigured under the deal, said Tehran could rebuild the underground facility to make it functional. Heavy water can be employed in reactors to produce plutonium, a fuel used in nuclear warheads.

In January, Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi told state TV that “despite pouring concrete in pipes within the core of the Arak reactor ... Iran had purchased pipes for replacement in case the West violated the deal.”

Mojtaba Zolnour, head of parliament’s nuclear committee, said Iran would quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty against the spread of nuclear weapons unless European powers saved the 2015 agreement.

The western European signatories to the deal - France, Britain and Germany - have defended it as the best way to limit Iran’s enrichment of uranium.

But Iran has repeatedly criticized delays in setting up a European mechanism that would shield trade with Iran from U.S. sanctions in an effort to save the nuclear deal.

The United States and the IAEA believe Iran had a nuclear weapons program that it abandoned. Tehran denies ever having had one.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday the United States did not want to go to war with Iran but would take every action necessary, including diplomacy, to guarantee safe navigation through Middle East shipping lanes.

Iran said on Monday it had exposed a cyber espionage network, accused the CIA of running it and that several U.S. spies had been arrested in different countries as a result. </s> From left to right, spokesman for Iran’s atomic agency Behrouz Kamalvandi, Iran’s government spokesman Ali Rabiei and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, attend a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, July 7, 2019. The deputy foreign minister says that his nation considers the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to be a “valid document” and seeks its continuation. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The latest on U.S.-Iran tensions (all times local):

Japan is expressing serious concern over Iran’s decision to increase uranium enrichment above the limit set by the 2015 nuclear agreement, urging Tehran to return to its earlier commitment.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura said Monday that Japan is “seriously concerned and closely watching” the development on the nuclear deal and increased tension in the Middle East.

Nishimura urged Iran to “immediately return to its commitment under the agreement and avoid any further steps that would undermine the nuclear agreement.”

Iran’s decision Sunday comes a year after the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal and has since imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, escalating the tension.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders but did little to help deescalate the tension.

President Donald Trump is issuing a warning to Iran after its announcement that it has increased its uranium enrichment above the limit set by the nuclear deal that Tehran signed with world powers in 2015.

When asked about Iran on Sunday, Trump told reporters, “Iran better be careful.”

He wouldn’t elaborate on what action the U.S. might take, but said: “Iran’s doing a lot of bad things.”

Trump, who pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear agreement, spoke to reporters at an airport in New Jersey before returning to Washington after a weekend at one of his clubs.

Iran is moving closer toward having weapons-grade levels of uranium, but it’s also calling for a diplomatic solution to a crisis heightening tensions with the U.S.

Britain is warning Iran to “immediately stop and reverse all activities” violating the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The British Foreign Office issued its warning Sunday, after Tehran’s announcement that it would break the 3.67% uranium enrichment limit set in the pact. The move comes after the U.S. withdrew from the agreement last year and restored crippling sanctions on Iran.

Britain’s Press Association quoted a ministry spokesman saying: “While the UK remains fully committed to the deal, Iran must immediately stop and reverse all activities inconsistent with its obligations.”

The spokesman said Britain is coordinating with other countries that are part of the accord “regarding the next steps under the terms of the deal, including a joint commission.”

The European Union says parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal are discussing a possible emergency meeting after Iran’s announcement that it will overstep the accord’s limit on uranium enrichment.

EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said Sunday that the bloc is “extremely concerned” about Iran’s decision to ramp up enrichment beyond the 3.67 percent limit. She says the EU has warned Iran against such moves.

Amid growing tensions in the region, she told The Associated Press that the EU is in contact with other parties to the accord to discuss next steps, “including a joint commission.”

The agreement’s joint commission brings together officials from the participating nations — Iran, France, Germany, Britain, Russia, China and the EU. The U.S. pulled out of the accord last year.

The commission normally meets once a quarter, and its last regular meeting was in late June.

Germany says it is “extremely concerned” about Iran’s announcement that it will break the limit on uranium enrichment set by the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The foreign ministry said in a statement Sunday that it is awaiting further information from the U.N. atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, after Iranian officials announced Tehran is ramping up the level of uranium enrichment beyond the 3.67% permitted under the deal.

Earlier this month, Iran increased its stockpile of low-enriched uranium beyond the cap set by the deal.

The ministry called for Iran “to stop and reverse all activities inconsistent with its commitments.” It said it is in contact with remaining parties to the deal regarding the next steps to try keep Iran within its terms.

The U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the deal a year ago.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog says it is aware of Iran saying it will break the 2015 nuclear deal’s limit on uranium enrichment.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Sunday that its inspectors in Iran will report to its Vienna headquarters “as soon as they verify the announced development.”

It did not elaborate.

Iranian officials announced on Sunday that the country is ramping up the level of uranium enrichment beyond the 3.67% permitted under the deal. Earlier this month, Iran increased its stockpile of low-enriched uranium beyond the cap set by the deal.

Iran’s moves have come in response to sweeping U.S. sanctions, imposed after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal a year ago.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling on world powers to impose “snapback sanctions” on Iran after it crossed the uranium threshold laid out in the faltering 2015 nuclear deal.

Netanyahu said Sunday that enriching uranium to such levels has only one purpose — to create atomic bombs.

He says Western leaders had vowed to impose sanction the moment the Islamic Republic crossed that threshold.

The Israeli leader has been one of the harshest critics of the nuclear deal. Israel considers Iran to be its most dangerous enemy because of its nuclear program and threats to destroy Israel.

Iran made its move amid heightened tensions and a year after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal.

Iran says its oil tanker that Britain intercepted in Gibraltar on Thursday was not headed toward Syria.

Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters on Sunday said the tanker’s “destination was not Syria.”

He said there was no law allowing authorities in Gibraltar to stop the tanker and it was “piracy”.

Authorities intercepted the supertanker Grace 1 on Thursday, saying they believed it to be violating European Union sanctions by carrying a shipment of Iranian crude oil to Syria. Spanish authorities said the seizure came at the request of the U.S.

It came amid heightened tensions over Iran’s unraveling 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which the U.S. withdrew from last year.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister says that his nation will take another step impacting its compliance with its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in 60 days.

Abbas Araghchi told a news conference Sunday that he cannot elaborate now on the nature of the next step.

Iranian officials also announced that the country is ramping up the level of uranium enrichment beyond the 3.67% permitted under the deal. Earlier this month, Iran increased its stockpile of low-enriched uranium beyond the cap set by the deal.

Despite such measures, Iran has reiterated it is open to diplomacy and that is in contact with European parties to the deal.

Araghchi says Iran considers the deal to be valid and wants to see it continue.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister says that his nation considers the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to be a “valid document” and seeks its continuation.

Abbas Araghchi spoke at a news conference Sunday where officials said Iran is ramping up the level of uranium enrichment beyond the 3.67% level permitted under the nuclear deal.

Officials said the new level will be determined by Iran’s needs, but did not provide specifics. They said the new level would be reached later Sunday and would show up in monitoring by Monday.

Even while breaking another limit of the 2015 deal, Iran appears to be signaling flexibility.

The deputy foreign minister says Iran is open to negotiations with Europe, and that the United States could join such talks.

An Iranian nuclear official says Iran will within hours go beyond the level of uranium enrichment permitted under an unraveling 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Under the deal, the cap for uranium enrichment was 3.67%.

The spokesman for Iran’s nuclear department, Behrouz Kamalvandi, told a news conference Sunday that technical preparations for the new level of enrichment will be completed “within several hours and enrichment over 3.67% will begin.”

He says monitoring will show the increased level by Monday morning.

Iran made the decision a year after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal.

Iran has repeatedly warned Europe in recent weeks that it would begin walking away from the accord because of a maximalist American campaign of sanctions blocking Tehran’s oil sales abroad and targeting its top officials.

Iran says it is raising its enrichment of uranium beyond the limit set by its unraveling 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei told a news conference Sunday that “today we will pass” the permitted enrichment level of 3.67%, but did not provide details.

The decision comes a year after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal.

America since has imposed sanctions blocking Iranian crude oil from being sold on the world market.

In response, Iran on July 1 acknowledged breaking the deal’s 300-kilogram (661-pound) limit on its low-enriched uranium stockpile.

Experts warn higher enrichment and a growing stockpile narrows the one-year window Iran would need to have enough material for an atomic bomb, something Iran denies it wants but the deal prevented.

Iran appears poised to raise its enrichment of uranium and break another limit from its faltering 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Sunday marks the end of a deadline set by President Hassan Rouhani for Europe to find a way for Iran to get around American sanctions.

State TV reports officials are scheduled to hold a news conference Sunday to discuss their plans.

This comes a year after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal.

America since has imposed sanctions blocking Iranian crude oil from being sold on the world market. The U.S. also sanctioned top officials in the Islamic Republic, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In response, Iran on July 1 acknowledged breaking the deal’s 300-kilogram (661-pound) limit on its low-enriched uranium stockpile. </s> Iran said European countries had offered too little in the way of trade assistance to persuade it to back off from its plan to breach the limit of Uranium production.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday his country has increased the level of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) production to over 300 kgs, breaching the limit set by the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

“According to my information, Iran has surpassed the 300kg limit [in producing low-enriched uranium] and we had already announced [that we were planning to do] this,” Zarif said to the ISNA news agency.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Iran’s steps to decrease its commitments to the nuclear deal were “reversible”.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said later on Monday that its inspectors confirmed that Iran had accumulated more enriched uranium than allowed, the French news agency AFP said.

Last Wednesday, the IAEA verified that Iran had roughly 200 kg of low-enriched uranium, just below the deal’s 202.8 kg limit. A quantity of 300 kg of UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) corresponds to 202.8 kg of LEU.

After talks on Friday in Vienna, Iran said European countries had offered too little in the way of trade assistance to persuade it to back off from its plan to breach the limit, a riposte to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision last year to quit the deal and reimpose economic sanctions.

Mousavi urged them Monday to step up their efforts. “Time is running out for them to save the deal,” state TV quoted him as saying.

The deal between Iran and six world powers lifted most international sanctions against Iran in return for restrictions on its nuclear work aimed at extending the time Iran would need to produce a nuclear bomb, if it chose to, from roughly 2-3 months to a year.

Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, including generating power. </s> Iran again threatened to stop complying with the 2015 nuclear deal Monday and surpass the maximum amount of enriched uranium it is allowed to have under the deal.

The country’s Atomic Energy Organization spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said Iran will stop complying unless United Kingdom and France — both signatories of the 2015 deal — help it get around American sanctions, The New York Times reported.

Iran’s low-enriched uranium stockpile could grow beyond the deal’s limit within 10 days Kamalvandi said according to The Times, who cited Iranian news agency Tasnim.

Not all enriched uranium is weapons-grade.

The maximum enrichment level allowed for Iran, 3.67 percent, is designed for nuclear power. But Kamalvandi said Iran needs 5 percent for its Bushehr nuclear power plant and 20 percent for a research reactor, Fox News reported.

Twenty percent is just below the threshold for weapons.

Kamalvandi’s news conference in front of Iran’s Arak nuclear plant reinforced the nation’s ultimatum for European countries to move forward with a special trade channel Instex despite U.S. opposition.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in May that Iran will disregard the nuclear deal in 60 days if the nation does not receive sanctions relief.

The 60 days will be up in early July, The Times reported.

Germany, the UK and France announced the creation of Instex in January.

“As long as they comply by their commitments, these will go back,” Kamalvandi said Monday according to The Times.

Iran’s threats of noncompliance come after Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman accused Iran on Sunday of carrying out last weeks attack on two oil tankers near the globally important Strait of Hormuz. The two powers have long been at odds.

Iran, the fifth largest oil producer in the world according to the Energy Information Administration, was not happy when the U.S. refused to renew waivers earlier in May for eight countries to import Iranian oil despite sanctions, The Washington Post reported.

Iran, the U.S. and countries including the United Kingdom and France all signed the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, and have been searching for a new normal after President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in May 2018.

Trump railed against what he called “the military-industrial complex” when asked about potential conflict with Iran during an interview with Steve Hilton of Fox News Channel in May.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. </s> The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions against Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, effectively slamming the door on the country’s top diplomat.

The sanctions freeze any of Zarif’s assets in the United States or that are controlled by US entities, the government announced, saying it also will curtail his international travel.

“Zarif implements the reckless agenda of Iran’s Supreme Leader and is the regime’s primary spokesperson around the world. The United States is sending a clear message to the Iranian regime that its recent behavior is completely unacceptable,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The designation of Zarif under the same sanctions earlier applied to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the latest blow by President Donald Trump to the Obama administration’s attempt to end nuclear tensions through negotiations.

But in a mixed message to Tehran, Washington on Wednesday extended waivers for three Iranian civil nuclear projects, to avoid upsetting the other signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement — China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain.

“This is a short 90-day extension,” said White House National Security Advisor John Bolton, a champion of the hawkish policy towards Tehran.

“We are watching those nuclear activities very, very closely, they remain under daily scrutiny,” he told Fox Business.

Zarif has been at the heart of complex talks with foreign capitals over Iran’s nuclear power industry, which Tehran says is peaceful, but Washington and regional allies including Israel insist is cover for a secret weapons program.

But a senior Trump administration official said that Zarif’s diplomatic image — bolstered by his fluent English, self-effacing humour and background as a US-educated academic — was false.

“The key issue is that he has had this veneer […] of being the sincere and reasonable interlocutor for the regime. Our point today is that he is no such thing,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

“Today President Trump decided enough was enough,” the official said, accusing Zarif of functioning as “propaganda minister, not foreign minister”.

Zarif shot back, tweeting that Washington is trying to silence Iran on the international stage.

“The US’ reason for designating me is that I am Iran’s ‘primary spokesperson around the world’ Is the truth really that painful?” he tweeted.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the sanctions on Zarif showed that the US was ‘afraid’ of the top diplomat. </s> Iran again threatened to stop complying with the 2015 nuclear deal Monday and surpass the maximum amount of enriched uranium it is allowed to have under the deal.

The country’s Atomic Energy Organization spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said Iran will stop complying unless United Kingdom and France — both signatories of the 2015 deal — help it get around American sanctions, The New York Times reported.

Iran’s low-enriched uranium stockpile could grow beyond the deal’s limit within 10 days Kamalvandi said according to The Times, who cited Iranian news agency Tasnim.

Not all enriched uranium is weapons-grade.

The maximum enrichment level allowed for Iran, 3.67 percent, is designed for nuclear power. But Kamalvandi said Iran needs 5 percent for its Bushehr nuclear power plant and 20 percent for a research reactor, Fox News reported.

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Twenty percent is just below the threshold for weapons.

Kamalvandi’s news conference in front of Iran’s Arak nuclear plant reinforced the nation’s ultimatum for European countries to move forward with a special trade channel Instex despite U.S. opposition.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in May that Iran will disregard the nuclear deal in 60 days if the nation does not receive sanctions relief.

The 60 days will be up in early July, The Times reported.

Germany, the UK and France announced the creation of Instex in January.

“As long as they comply by their commitments, these will go back,” Kamalvandi said Monday according to The Times.

Iran’s threats of noncompliance come after Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman accused Iran on Sunday of carrying out last weeks attack on two oil tankers near the globally important Strait of Hormuz. The two powers have long been at odds.

Iran, the fifth largest oil producer in the world according to the Energy Information Administration, was not happy when the U.S. refused to renew waivers earlier in May for eight countries to import Iranian oil despite sanctions, The Washington Post reported.

Iran, the U.S. and countries including the United Kingdom and France all signed the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, and have been searching for a new normal after President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in May 2018.

Trump railed against what he called “the military-industrial complex” when asked about potential conflict with Iran during an interview with Steve Hilton of Fox News Channel in May.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. </s> Iran’s atomic officials said that the country will break the limit on uranium enrichment until European countries curb sanctions.

Iran announced Monday it would breach uranium enrichment limits in 10 days in a move that drew an accusation of "nuclear blackmail" from Washington, but it added that European nations still had time to save the nuclear deal by curbing sanctions.

In an announcement, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said, "We have quadrupled the rate of enrichment (of uranium) and even increased it more recently so that in 10 days it will bypass the 300 kg limit."

"Iran's reserves are every day increasing at a more rapid rate," he told state TV, adding that "the move will be reversed once other parties fulfill their commitments."

In an indication of Western concern at Iran's initiative, a White House National Security Council spokesman said the plan amounted to "nuclear blackmail" and must be met with increased international pressure.

Britain said if Iran breached limits agreed under the deal then London would look at "all options." Close U.S. ally Israel, Iran's arch foe, urged world powers to step up sanctions against Tehran swiftly should it exceed the enriched uranium limit.

However, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the EU would only react to any breach if the International Atomic Energy Agency formally identified one.

U.S.-Iran tensions are growing following accusations by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration that Tehran last Thursday attacked two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, a vital oil shipping route.

Iran's Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Major General Mohammad Baqeri, Monday denied Tehran was behind the attacks and said if the Islamic Republic decided to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz shipping lane it would do so publicly.

The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said Tehran was responsible for security in the Gulf and urged U.S. forces to leave the region, state TV said.

Tehran said in May it would reduce compliance with the nuclear pact it agreed with world powers in 2015, in protest at the United States’ decision to unilaterally pull out of the agreement and reimpose sanctions last year.

The accord requires Iran to curb its uranium enrichment capacity, capping Iran’s stock of low-enriched uranium at 300 kg of uranium hexafluoride enriched to 3.67 percent or its equivalent for 15 years.

A series of more intrusive U.N. inspections under the deal have verified that Iran has been meeting its commitments.

Urging European signatories to hasten efforts to salvage the accord, President Hassan Rouhani said its collapse would not be in the interests of the region or the world.

"It's a crucial moment, and France can still work with other signatories of the deal and play a historic role to save the deal in this very short time," Rouhani was quoted as saying during a meeting with France's new ambassador in Iran.

Kamalvandi, in a news conference at Iran's Arak heavy water nuclear reactor which has been reconfigured under the deal, said Tehran could rebuild the underground facility to make it functional. Heavy water can be employed in reactors to produce plutonium, a fuel used in nuclear warheads.
Tasnim News Agency reports that, in a Nowruz speech, Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei said experts in his country can enrich uranium to 99 percent. ISNA reports that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is threatening to quit the Iran nuclear deal if the United States blocks Iran's version of the deal's implementation.