LONDON -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that his country will "take the next step" and begin to enrich uranium beyond the levels specified under its 2015 accord with the United States and other global powers, state news outlets reported.
Rouhani's pledge to accelerate the country's uranium enrichment starting Sunday is the latest step in an escalating confrontation with the United States over President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear pact and imposition of crippling economic sanctions on Iran.
On Monday, Tehran confirmed that it had increased its stockpile of low-grade enriched uranium above the cap stipulated in the accord. But its announced intention to enrich uranium to a higher level of purity is considered a far more significant breach of the nuclear deal, as it would bring Iran much closer to producing a nuclear weapon.
Iran has maintained over the years that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes and that the more highly enriched uranium was intended for use in a reactor that produces medical isotopes.
But to forestall Iran's decadeslong pursuit of the technology to build a nuclear bomb, the United States, the European Union and several world powers agreed in 2015 to lift sweeping economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for limitations on its nuclear activity.
Trump withdrew from that deal last year, demanding that Iran agree to more stringent limits on its nuclear and conventional military activities. This May, the United States added to its "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran by moving to block the country's oil sales anywhere in the world, cutting its exports to about 300,000 barrels a day from 2.5 million. Officials in Tehran have denounced the latest restrictions as "economic warfare."
The other signatories of the nuclear deal -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- have continued to support it and urged Iran to do the same. But Iran has threatened to stop complying with the agreement unless the European nations take measures to relieve the economic pain inflicted by the United States.
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting in Tehran, Rouhani said Iran would move Sunday to enrich uranium to higher levels "in any amount that we want, any amount that is required," regardless of the limits set by the deal.
"Our advice to Europe and the United States is to go back to logic and to the negotiating table," Rouhani said. "Go back to understanding, to respecting the law and resolutions of the U.N. Security Council. Under those conditions, all of us can abide by the nuclear deal."
In addition, Rouhani said Iran would start taking steps Sunday to restart its Arak nuclear reactor, which could eventually be used to produce plutonium and provide an alternative path to developing a bomb.
Iran had said under the 2015 accord that it had removed the core of the reactor and filled it with concrete. If the United States and the other signatories do not provide the sanctions relief they had promised, Rouhani said, Iran will return the Arak reactor to "the condition that you say is dangerous and can produce plutonium."
"We will return to that unless you take action regarding all your commitments," he said.
Trump responded on Twitter to Rouhani's warning: "Be careful with the threats, Iran. They can come back to bite you like nobody has been bitten before!"
The EU has sought to throw the Iranians an economic lifeline to persuade them to continue honoring the terms of the deal.
A European financial vehicle, known as Instex, is designed to protect trade with Iran, but Iranian officials say that to be effective, it needs to be accompanied by a mechanism to skirt American sanctions on purchases of Iranian oil.
The trading mechanism has largely failed as Instex is mainly intended to facilitate the trade of basic goods such as food and medical products, not the oil sales that are vital to Iran and are a main target of the sanctions.
Ali Vaez, an Iran analyst for the International Crisis Group, said the current state of the deal highlights the limitations faced by Europe.
"It is a pity that despite its goodwill and efforts, Europe fell short of preserving an agreement that incarnates European belief in multilateralism," he said.
Iran says it can't be expected to abide by the accord while the U.S. penalties rob it of the economic benefits it was promised in exchange for curbing its nuclear program, and Rouhani had set a deadline of the first week in July for the Europeans to deliver on their promises of help.
As that deadline approached, Iran this week took its first small step beyond the 2015 agreement by surpassing the deal's cap in its stockpile of low-enriched uranium.
Taken alone, that step does little to take Iran closer to the potential development of a nuclear weapon. And the stockpile could easily be reduced by shipping the excess uranium abroad. But the violation of the 2015 agreement nonetheless served as a warning that the pact itself was in imminent danger.
In response, top diplomats from the EU, Britain, France and Germany released a statement Tuesday warning that they were "extremely concerned" and that "our commitment to the nuclear deal depends on full compliance with Iran."
"We are urgently considering next steps" under the terms of the 2015 agreement, the Europeans said, though they did not elaborate.
Rouhani's statement Wednesday appeared to rebuff those warnings, setting the stage for Iran to resume production of more highly enriched uranium.
The heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran have involved a series of incidents across the wider Persian Gulf. Several attacks have struck oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, which the U.S. and Israel blame on Iran, although Tehran denies involvement.
Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have launched a series of bomb-laden drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. Iran also shot down a U.S. military surveillance drone on June 20, nearly sparking a retaliatory American strike.
Iranian state TV reported that the powerful Imam Reza Foundation, a religious body that manages vast endowments and businesses across Iran, awarded medals to those who shot down the U.S. drone.
Information for this article was contributed by David D. Kirkpatrick of The New York Times; by Jon Gambrell and Nasser Karimi of The Associated Press; and by Golnar Motevalli and Arsalan Shahla of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 07/04/2019