Iran defies Trump’s warning, goes beyond new nuclear deal limit

Pariah Asian nation, Iran announced it would begin enriching uranium beyond a limit set in an international nuclear accord, despite an earlier warning by US President Donald Trump.

Tehran has stubbornly passed the uranium enrichment cap set in its 2015 nuclear deal, marking the second time in a week that it made good on a promise to reduce compliance with the international pact following the United States’ unilateral exit last year.

The move was confirmed by Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the nuclear agency, who informed that Tehran had enriched uranium beyond the 3.67 percent purity that the deal allows, passing 4.5 percent.

In Tehran, Abbas Mousavi, spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said that while Iran appreciated the efforts of some nations to save the deal, it has “no hope nor trust in anyone nor any country”.

Read also: Trump hits back, as UK top envoy calls his White House ‘inept’

“But the door of diplomacy is open,” Mousavi told reporters on Monday, adding that Emmanuel Bonne, a senior aide to French President Emmanuel Macron, was scheduled to visit the Iranian capital in the coming days.

He also issued a stark warning to the pact’s European signatories about the second 60-day deadline Iran set on Sunday.

“If the remaining countries in the deal, especially the Europeans, do not fulfil their commitments seriously, and not do anything more than talk, Iran’s third step will be harder, more steadfast and somehow stunning,” he said, referring to the September 5 deadline.

When asked about the latest Iranian moves, Trump said on Sunday: “Iran better be careful because you enrich for one reason, and I won’t tell you what that reason is, but it’s no good.”

He did not elaborate on what actions Washington might consider, but told reporters that Tehran “will never have a nuclear weapon”. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and refers to a religious decree issued in the early 2000s by Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei that forbids “the production, stockpiling and use of weapons of mass destruction, and specifically nuclear arms”.

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