Bahrouz Kamalvendi said Iran will increase its production capacity to 3.67 percent – within the limits of the 2015 nuclear deal and well below the quality needed to develop nuclear weapons – according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.
The increase will however take Iran’s stockpile beyond the limits imposed by the accord.
The decision follows a recent announcement by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council that it would scale back its commitment to the nuclear deal in response US pressure.
The level of enrichment and the number of centrifuges will not be increased, Kamalvendi said. The international atomic agency has been informed, he added.
The increase is intended to send a “message” to the US, the spokesman said. However, Iran remains committed to the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), he added.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council recently gave the accord’s remaining European, Russian, and Chinese signatories 60 days to save the deal and confront Washington.
In early May, Washington ended two waivers allowing Iran to ship enriched uranium in excess of 300 kg and send surplus heavy water exceeding 130 metric tons to Oman.
This left Iran with two choices – either stop enrichment altogether, or abandon some of its nuclear deal obligations. It appears to have chosen the latter, potentially upsetting the accord’s remaining signatories.
The Trump administration withdrew from the Obama-era deal in May 2018, claiming it did not go far enough to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons or stop it from interfering in regional conflicts.
Since the US withdrew, a raft of sanctions have been imposed on Iran’s economy and oil sector with the aim of driving oil exports down to zero. Iran’s currency has collapsed, causing a spike in the cost of living for ordinary Iranians.
This was followed by the decision to list Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization. Tehran responded by listing US central command (CENTCOM) as a terror group.
Tensions further increased last week when the US deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf, citing unspecified threats from Iran and Iran-backed groups in Iraq.
On Sunday, a Katyusha rocket landed in Baghdad’s Green Zone, near the US embassy.
Hours later, Trump tweeted: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!”
Javad Zarif, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, responded on Monday with the Twitter hashtag #NeverThreatenAnIranian.
“Goaded by #B_Team, @realdonaldTrump hopes to achieve what Alexander, Genghis & other aggressors failed to do. Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. #EconomicTerrorism & genocidal taunts won’t ‘end Iran’,” Zarif tweeted.
Despite their belligerent tone, both sides have said they do not want a war. Trump has urged Iranian leaders to call him and enter negotiations.
