Rouhani: Iranian Nuclear Enrichment Surpasses Pre-accord Levels

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday in a televised speech that the Islamic Republic is currently enriching more uranium than it was before signing on to a 2015 multilateral accord aimed at blocking its suspected drive to produce nuclear weapons. “We are enriching more uranium than before the deal was reached,” he said, adding: “Pressure has increased on Iran, but we continue to make progress.” Tehran recently announced that it had abandoned all limitations on its uranium enrichment to protest crippling US economic sanctions imposed when the Trump Administration led Washington out of the accord in 2018, calling it too lenient. On Tuesday, the three European parties to the deal – Britain, France and Germany – put Iran on notice that despite the sanctions, which they were trying to work around with a proposed barter system, Tehran was required to stick with the terms of the accord. On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif scolded the Europeans on Twitter, accusing them of folding to pressure from US President Donald Trump. “It won’t work my friends,” Zarif wrote. “You only whet his appetite. Remember your high school bully?”