Ariana News Agency-\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In the latest step to counter what Iranian officials have called U.S. \u201ceconomic terrorism,\u201d Abbas Araghchi, deputy foreign minister, said in a press conference early Sunday that Iran would exceed the enrichment limit \u201cin a few hours,\u201d to fulfill the energy needs for its Bushehr power plant.<\/p>\n In May 2018, President Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of the deal that Iran had made with world powers, and was complying with, and announced a series of \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d sanctions designed to paralyze Iran\u2019s economy by pummeling its currency and drastically reducing its oil exports.<\/p>\n On the anniversary of Trump\u2019s withdrawal, Tehran said it would take steps to suspend compliance every 60 days to pressure the remaining signatories \u2014 Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China \u2014 to salvage the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.<\/p>\n Last week, Tehran said it had enriched more than the limit of 660 pounds of low-grade non-fissile uranium stipulated under the deal.<\/p>\n Then, on Friday, Ali Akbar Velayati, the international affairs advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in an interview published on Khamenei\u2019s website that the Bushehr power plant required uranium enriched at a 5% level \u2014 well above the 3.67% limit stipulated in the accord. Velayati insisted the increase was being done for \u201ca completely peaceful goal.\u201d<\/p>\n Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for Iran\u2019s Atomic Energy Organization, said there was still no need to enrich uranium to the 20% required by Tehran\u2019s research reactor.<\/p>\n Weapons-grade uranium requires enrichment levels equal to or exceeding 90%.<\/p>\n On Sunday, Araghchi lashed out at European nations for failing to fulfill their obligations under the accord, as well as their slow implementation of a non-dollar financial channel known as the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges, or INSTEX, which would help offset the effect of U.S. sanctions on Iran.<\/p>\n Although the \u201cdoor to diplomacy was still open,\u201d Araghchi said, if there was no solution, Iran would take another step \u201cafter the next 60-day deadline,\u201d and could ultimately abandon the deal altogether.<\/p>\n He added that Iran had kicked off reconstruction of its Arak reactor after having dumped cement into its core under the provisions of the international deals.<\/p>\n Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif insisted Sunday\u2019s measure was a legal one under the terms of the pact.<\/p>\n \u201cWe reserve the right to continue to exercise legal remedies,\u201d he tweeted Sunday. \u201c All such steps are reversible only through E3 compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet it was unclear if that would happen.<\/p>\n Although Britain remained \u201cfully committed to the deal,\u201d a foreign office spokesman called on Iran to \u201cimmediately stop and reverse all activities inconsistent with its obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a position echoed by Germany, while French President Emmanuel Macron, who had spoken with his Iranian counterpart on Saturday, had expressed his \u201cstrong concern\u201d about the consequences of abandoning the accord.<\/p>\n U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, meanwhile, took to Twitter to react: \u201cIran\u2019s latest expansion of its nuclear program will lead to further isolation and sanctions. Nations should restore the longstanding standard of no enrichment for Iran\u2019s nuclear program. Iran\u2019s regime, armed with nuclear weapons, would pose an even greater danger to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Iran announced on Sunday it had begun the process of enriching uranium beyond the limits set by a 2015 international accord aimed at keeping Tehran from eventually stockpiling nuclear-weapons-grade materials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_mat_hreflang_tags":[],"addvideo":"","video_duration":"","farsit":"","target":"0","top_stories":"0","top":"0"},"categories":[305],"tags":[590],"class_list":["post-3596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","tag-iran-deal"],"acf":{"myctype":"change","target":false,"top_stories":false,"top":false,"farsit":""},"yoast_head":"\n