A year after the U.S. pulled out of the deal, Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, said his country had deliberately exceeded a 300kg cap on its enriched uranium stockpile. “Iran has crossed the 300kg limit based on its plan,” he said.
Iran’s government announced last month that it would start breaching the deal in protest at U.S. sanctions on Iran’s economy and Europe’s lack of action to ease the impact of the sanctions. While exceeding the limit on low-grade uranium is only a minor step towards a potential nuclear weapon, Tehran has threatened a more serious breach on July 8 by resuming enrichment of higher-grade uranium.
Iran’s behaviour presents Britain, France, and Germany – the European states who have defended the nuclear agreement – with a stark choice. They can reimpose sanctions on Tehran, and risk destroying the nuclear deal altogether, or try to convince Iran to return to compliance with agreement.
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