Iran has exceeded the 300 kilogram (660 pounds) limit for the enriched uranium stockpile, set out by the nuclear deal, Fars news agency reported Monday, citing a source.
“The stockpile of the uranium enriched at 3.67 percent exceeded 300 kilograms,” the source told the agency, adding that the information has been confirmed by the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The news comes several days after Iran’s envoy to a meeting of the remaining signatories to the 2015 nuclear accord said that European countries had offered too little at last-ditch talks to persuade Tehran to back off from its plans to breach limits imposed by the deal.
The envoy’s words echoed a statement made earlier the same day by the Iranian Foreign Ministry that said, Tehran would make another decisive step in reducing its obligations under the JCPOA if the EU Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) didn’t meet Tehran’s requirements.
On May 8, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Tehran would not be carrying out “some [of its] voluntary commitments” to the JCPOA, as the EU and other states had failed to resist pressure from the US, who pulled out of the accord last year and re-imposed sanctions on Iran. Since then, Iran has increased uranium enrichment fourfold.