(Politico)
Isabella Borshoff 7/8/19 2:04 PM
An Iranian official says the country is enriching uranium above the limits imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal, local news agencies reported Monday.
Iranian media outlets, including the semi-official agency FARS, cited Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Iranian nuclear agency, as saying that the country's uranium enrichment level had reached 4.5 percent.
International negotiators agreed on a maximum of 3.67 percent as part of the 2015 deal between Iran and global powers, which include France, Germany and the U.K.
An EU spokesperson said the bloc was "extremely concerned" by the announcement and urged Iran to "stop and reverse" any activities that contravene the terms of the deal, according to Reuters.
Kamalvandi's statement came one day after Iran announced its intention to break the terms of the agreement by enriching beyond the 3.67 percent limit. The country plans to reduce its commitment to the deal every 60 days, according to the BBC.
In May, one year after the U.S. pulled out of the deal and reimposed sanctions, Tehran gave the remaining parties a 60-day deadline to deliver on their promises to protect Iran from U.S. sanctions.
Iran maintains that the new enrichment levels are designed to meet the needs of its power plants and denies that it intends to build nuclear weapons.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss Iran, among other subjects.
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