TEHRAN: Iran has announced an increase in enriched uranium production following a series of steps back from commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by the United States.
The head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi said, “Enriched uranium production has reached five kilograms per day.”
Earlier in May, Iran decided to suspend certain nuclear commitments, a year after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal between world powers and Iran and reimposed sanctions on the country.
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Tehran has so far hit back with three packages of countermeasures and threatened to go even further if the remaining partners to the deal Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia fail to help it avoid US sanctions.
After the latest announcement, the European Union warned that its support for the nuclear deal depends on Tehran fulfilling its commitments.
Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said, “We have continued to urge Iran to reverse such steps without delay and to refrain from other measures that would undermine the nuclear deal.”
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Iran on 1st July, said that it had increased its stockpile of enriched uranium to beyond a 300-kilo maximum set by the deal, and a week later, it announced it had exceeded a 3.67-percent cap on the purity of its uranium stocks.
It fired up advanced centrifuges to boost its enriched uranium stockpiles on 7th September.
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