Tehran: A top aide to Iran’s supreme leader says the Islamic Republic is ready to enrich uranium beyond the level set by Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal, just ahead of a deadline it set on Sunday for Europe to offer new terms to the accord.
A video message by Ali Akbar Velayati said that “Americans directly and Europeans indirectly violated the deal,” part of Tehran’s hardening tone with Europe.
European parties to the deal have yet to offer a way for Iran to avoid the sweeping economic sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump since he pulled the US out of the accord a year ago, especially those targeting its crucial oil sales.
All this comes as US has rushed thousands of troops, an aircraft carrier, nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and advanced fighter jets to Mideast.
In the video, available on Saturday on a website for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Kham-enei, Velayati said that increasing enrichment closers to weapons-grade levels was “unanimously agreed upon by every component of the establishment.”
“We will show reaction exponentially as much as they violate it. We cut our commitments as much as they reduce it,” Velayati said.
