Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi was cited by the ISNA as saying on Monday that the country will break its uranium stockpile limit set by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, in 10 days.

"Today we will start exceeding the enriched uranium stockpile limit of 300 kg. The process will last 10 days. In other words, we will exceed this limit on 27 June", Kamalvandi said, as aired by state TV.

Speaking at the Arak Nuclear Plant, the official said that Iran may export heavy water, adding that the move would not constitute a violation of the nuclear deal. It may also increase uranium enrichment to up to 20 per cent for use in local reactors, he added.

The JCPOA specifies that Iran is limited to keeping 300 kilogrammes of uranium enriched up to 3.67 per cent. As part of the Iran deal, Tehran is allowed to trade any enriched uranium above that threshold on the international markets in exchange for natural uranium.

Kamalvandi added that European countries needed to "act not talk" by stepping in for Iran in order to protect the country from US sanctions.

The spokesman pointed out that the other signatories still have some time as Iranian nuclear bodies are waiting on the government's decision on the next stage of its obligations reduction under the JCPOA.

The announcement follows a report by the Tasnim News Agency that Tehran would come up with further steps towards reducing its obligations under the nuclear deal on 17 June. On Sunday, the media outlet said that Iran would signal its intention to increase its stockpiles of enriched uranium and heavy water, but did not go into further details.

Last week, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that Tehran would continue to suspend some of its commitments under the nuclear deal if it doesn't see some "positive signals" from the remaining signatories to the agreement in the immediate future.

"Obviously, Iran cannot stick to this agreement unilaterally. It is necessary that all the sides of this agreement contribute to restoring it", Rouhani said.

Iran first announced that it would start suspending some of its voluntary commitments under the JCPOA within 60 days on 8 May – exactly one year after the US unilaterally pulled out from the deal and decided to reinstate all sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, was signed in 2015 by Iran and the P5+1 nations — Russia, the US, China, France, the UK plus Germany — after years of negotiations. The multilateral accord sought to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for the gradual lifting of economic sanctions on Tehran. </s> Iranian presidency, AFP | A handout picture made available by the Iranian presidential office shows Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attending events for “nuclear technology day" in Tehran on April 9, 2019.

Iran said Monday it will surpass from June 27 its uranium stockpile limit set under the nuclear deal with world powers, turning up the pressure after the US walked away from the landmark pact last year.

"Today the countdown to pass the 300 kilograms reserve of enriched uranium has started and in 10 days time... we will pass this limit," Iran's atomic energy organisation spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told a news conference broadcast live on state television.

The move "will be reversed once other parties live up to their commitments," he added, speaking from the Arak nuclear plant southwest of Tehran.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the international community to immediately hit Iran with "snapback sanctions" should it violate the deal by surpassing the uranium stockpile limit set in the deal.

Speaking at a news conference in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron said he "regrets" Iran's announcement, noting that the Islamic Republic so far still respects its obligations under the 2015 accord.

On May 8, President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would stop observing restrictions on its stocks of enriched uranium and heavy water agreed under the 2015 nuclear deal.

Rouhani said the move was in retaliation for the unilateral US withdrawal from the accord a year earlier, which saw Washington impose tough economic sanctions on Tehran.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have escalated ever since, with the United States bolstering its military presence in the region and blacklisting Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation.

The United States has also blamed Iran for last week's attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, a charge Tehran has denied as "baseless".

Iran has threatened to go even further in scaling down nuclear commitments by July 8 unless remaining partners to the deal -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- help it circumvent US sanctions and especially enable it to sell its oil.

"The current situation is sensitive" and there is still time for the deal's partners to save this agreement, Rouhani told the French ambassador to Tehran Philippe Thiebaud on Monday.

"The collapse of the JCPOA is undoubtedly not in the interest of Iran... the region and the world," he added, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the deal is formally known.

Under the agreement, Iran pledged to reduce its nuclear capacities for several years and allow international inspectors inside the country to monitor its activities in return for relief from international sanctions.

The deal set a limit on the number of uranium-enriching centrifuges, and restricted its right to enrich uranium to no higher than 3.67 percent, well below weapons-grade levels of around 90 percent.

It also called on Iran to export enriched uranium and heavy water to ensure the country's reserves would stay within the production ceiling set by the agreement, yet recent US restrictions have made such exports virtually impossible.

According to Rouhani, the ultimatum he issued last month was intended to "save the (deal), not destroy it".

The three European parties to the accord created a trade mechanism meant to bypass US sanctions, but their attempt was dismissed by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a "bitter joke".

The spokesman for Iran's atomic energy organisation warned further steps could be taken if world powers do not step up to help the country.

"They range from going to 3.68 percent to any other percent according to the country's needs," said Kamalvandi.

Authorities were still debating whether to "redesign or revive" the Arak reactor, he added.

Uranium enriched to much higher levels than Iran's current stocks can be used as the fissile core of a nuclear weapon, while heavy water is a source of plutonium, which can be used as an alternative way to produce a warhead.

"#Iran not bluffing about 60-day deadline for ceasing compliance with parts of nuclear deal," Ellie Geranmayeh, senior fellow at European Council on Foreign Relation said in a tweet.

She downplayed the importance of uranium and heavy water stockpiles increasing and said it would be more worrying for Europe if Iran exceeded the enrichment level allowed in the deal.

"I imagine Tehran will do this incrementally, testing Europeans at each stage."

Germany has acknowledged the economic benefits Iran hoped for from the deal were now "more difficult to obtain", but has urged Iran to fully respect the "extraordinarily important" nuclear deal.

"A point to Europeans: if the first step took time to be done, other steps, especially increasing enrichment... need no more than a day or two," said Kamalvandi. </s> Iran has suspended key commitments under the 2015 international nuclear deal, a year after it was abandoned by the US.

President Hassan Rouhani said he would keep enriched uranium stocks in the country rather than sell them abroad.

He also threatened to resume production of higher enriched uranium in 60 days.

According to BBC, the accord was aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions in return for sanctions relief. Iran-US tensions have risen since Washington quit.

Iran’s economy has since been hit by renewed US sanctions.

Iran informed the remaining parties to the deal – France, Germany, Russia, China and the UK – of its decision on Wednesday morning.

In response, French Defence Minister Florence Parly told French media that the European powers were doing everything they could to keep the deal alive but there would be consequences and possibly sanctions if the deal was not adhered to.

Iran’s announcement comes after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an unscheduled visit to Iraq, and a US aircraft carrier was deployed to the Gulf region.
• Iran nuclear deal – all you need to know
• Is it about to become more expensive to fill my car?

US officials have reported threats to US forces and their allies from Iran, but have given few details about the exact nature of the threat.

What did President Rouhani say?

Mr Rouhani said he was suspending two parts of the deal, which is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that Iran was adhering to – the sale of surplus enriched uranium and heavy water.

He then gave the European powers, Russia and China 60 days to meet their financial and oil commitments to the deal. If they did so, Iran would resume the sales.

If, however, those commitments were not met and the powers chose to follow US sanctions, he said Iran would begin higher enrichment of uranium, which is currently capped, and begin developing its Arak heavy water reactor based on plans made prior to the deal.

But the Iranian president said Iran was not pulling out of the deal.

“We do not want to leave the agreement. All the people of the world should know that today is not the end of the JCPOA; it is a new step within the framework of the JCPOA,” he said.

However, he said the five powers would face a “very decisive reaction” if Iran’s nuclear case was referred to the United Nations Security Council. </s> The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran has lived up to its commitments under the 2015 nuclear agreement, Press TV reported.

The United Nations nuclear agency confirmed Iran's compliance with the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in its latest quarterly report, the French news agency AFP said on Thursday.

According to the report, Iran’s stock of low-enriched uranium did not exceed the agreed limit of 300 kilograms while its stock of heavy water remained below the ceiling of 130 tonnes after the country exported 19.1 tonnes.

The Islamic Republic "has not pursued the construction of the Arak ... reactor" and has not enriched uranium above low purity levels, it added.

The report comes at a time that Washington has stepped up its rhetoric and actions against the JCPOA.

Recent media reports indicate that administration of US President Donald Trump is actively seeking a pretext to potentially withdraw from the JCPOA.

Last week, the Trump administration sent US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley to Vienna to lobby with the IAEA to request access to Iranian military sites as part of the deal, a move generally considered as an attempt at undermining the JCPOA.

Trump has also set up a team of his White House confidantes to present him with “options” other than certifying Iranian compliance with the deal to the Congress. Such certification is needed by US law every 90 days in order for the Congress to continue to withhold nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.

The White House has been further pressuring US intelligence officials to produce intelligence that could be used to declare Iran in violation of the nuclear agreement.

On the contrary, European officials have recently come out in support of the multilateral nuclear deal.

Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron said there was "no alternative" to the deal, noting, “It enables a constructive and demanding relationship with Iran.”

The European Union (EU)’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, also said the deal represented “the European way to foreign policy.”

The JCPOA was “a commitment undertaken by the entire international community on the one side and Iran on the other, supported by a resolution of the UN Security Council, and certified regularly by the International Atomic Energy Agency,” she pointed out.

 The JCPOA was inked between Iran and the P5+1 countries — namely the US, Russia, China, France, and Britain plus Germany — in July 2015 and took effect in January 2016.

Under the deal, limits were put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for the removal of all nuclear-related bans imposed on the Islamic Republic, among other things. </s> The European Union hopes that Iran will keep respecting its commitments under the nuclear deal, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Monday in light of Tehran's plans to exceed limits on uranium enrichment and heavy water stockpiles set by the agreement

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th June, 2019) The European Union hopes that Iran will keep respecting its commitments under the nuclear deal, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Monday in light of Tehran 's plans to exceed limits on uranium enrichment and heavy water stockpiles set by the agreement

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said earlier in the day that Tehran would in the coming days exceed the 3.67 percent uranium enrichment limit and the 130 tonne heavy water stockpile limit that were established by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It at the same time added that there was still time for EU countries to act and protect Iran from US sanctions.

"So far Iran has been compliant with its nuclear commitments as we had expected it to be ... At the moment, Iran is still compliant and we strongly hope, encourage, expect that Iran continues to comply with its commitments in the JCPOA in full," Mogherini told journalists at a press conference in Luxembourg.

She also noted that all EU assessments regarding the Iran nuclear issue were based exclusively on the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) reports.

"Our assessment on the implementation of the nuclear deal has never been, is not and will never be based on statements but on the evaluations that the IAEA makes, on the reports that the IAEA produces and that can be done in any time. We base our assessments, our judgments on facts, on the verification mechanism that are in place and that we trust," Mogherini said.

On May 8, Iran announced it would partially discontinue its obligations under the JCPOA. The decision came a year after US President Donald Trump announced it was withdrawing the United States from the nuclear agreement and re-imposing wide-ranging sanctions on Iran.

On the same day, Iran gave the other nuclear deal signatories China, the European Union, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom an ultimatum, saying it would in 60 days reduce some other obligations if they did not shield Tehran from Washington's sanctions. </s> Iran has announced it will break a limit set on uranium enrichment, in breach of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

Deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran still wanted to salvage the deal but blamed European countries for failing to live up to their own commitments.

The US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018.

It has since reimposed strict sanctions on Iran.
• Why does the enriched uranium stockpile matter?

The Iranian announcement marks the latest breach of the accord. In May, Iran stepped up its production of enriched uranium, which can be used to make fuel for reactors but also for nuclear weapons.

The country has already stockpiled more enriched uranium than permitted under the terms of the deal.

Iran has strongly denied that it has any intention of building nuclear weapons.

On the anniversary of the US withdrawal, Iran gave a 60-day deadline to the remaining signatories of the deal - China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK - to protect it from US sanctions.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday at the end of that deadline, Mr Araqshi said Iran would start enriching uranium above a concentration of 3.67% within a few hours, to provide fuel for its Bushehr power plant.

Officials previously said this would mean a concentration of about 5%. Weapons-grade uranium is 90% enriched or more.

Mr Araqchi said Iran would keep reducing its commitment to the 2015 deal every 60 days.

But he also stressed that diplomacy was still an option, provided the sanctions are lifted.

Israel's energy minister has already criticised the move, saying that while the increase was "moderate", Iran had "begun its march... toward nuclear weaponry".

The announcement comes a day after French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and expressed his "strong concern" about what would happen if the agreement was abandoned.

Mr Rouhani called on European countries to act now to save the deal.

What is the nuclear deal?

Six countries signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015 to curb Iran's nuclear programme.

Tehran agreed to let in international inspectors and to limit its nuclear activities, in exchange for an end to tight economic sanctions.
• Iran nuclear deal - all you need to know

Under the deal, Iran is only permitted to produce low-enriched uranium, which has a 3-4% concentration of U-235, and can be used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants.

The deal also restricted Iran to stockpiling no more than 300kg (661lb) of the low-enriched uranium.

A stockpile of 1,050kg, however, could be further enriched later into enough material to build one bomb, according to the Arms Control Association. </s> Tehran, Iran (CNN) On Tuesday afternoon, US President Donald Trump made good on a promise to "tear up" the Iran nuclear deal. By Wednesday morning, hardline Iranian lawmakers delivered on vows to "burn it" in response.

Convening in Iran's parliament -- the Majlis -- conservative MPs literally set a copy of the landmark agreement on fire. They also burned the United States flag amid chants of "Death to America."

"Trump's abandoning of the nuclear deal was a diplomatic show... Iran has no obligation to honor its commitments under the current situation," Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said in his address to the assembly.

"It is obvious that Trump only understands the language of force."

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has made a last-ditch effort to moderate Iran's response to Trump's pullout, promising to commit to the agreement for the time being.

But from where I stand in Tehran, it is very difficult to see how the agreement will survive, and for the policy of negotiating with the West, championed by Rouhani, to emerge unscathed.

Clinging to hope

In an address following Trump's announcement on Monday, Rouhani indicated that if other parties to the agreement could provide assurances that Iran would continue to "fully benefit" from the deal, his country in turn would stick to its part of the agreement.

The United Kingdom, France and German -- known as the E3 -- as well as China and Russia are party to the multilateral nuclear agreement, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Each has promised to abide by the deal after Trump's withdrawal, continuing to do business with Iran as they have since the agreement lifted international sanctions.

"I have ordered the foreign ministry to negotiate with the European countries, China and Russia in coming weeks," said Rouhani. "If at the end of this short period we conclude that we can fully benefit from the JCPOA with the cooperation of all countries, the deal would remain."

The alternative, Rouhani seemed to indicate, would spell disaster for international security. He said he had ordered the country's atomic industry organizations to prepare to restart enrichment at an "industrial level" if negotiations fail.

Iran's Supreme Leader, and final arbiter on all Iranian policy, echoed those threats even more strongly. "Within the next few years, on the basis of assessment of the experts, the country will have 20,000 megawatts of nuclear energy," Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to a transcript of his remarks on his official webpage.

"When the nuclear issue started, some of our well-known people were saying why do we need a nuclear program? Just put it aside. Of course, this was wrong. The nuclear issue is needed by the country," he continued.

Much of the rest of the country appears to have adopted Rouhani's stance and is clinging to hope. Many newspapers here are praising Rouhani's response, advocating a wait-and-see approach to see if the Europeans will stand by them, preventing the country from plunging into an even deeper economic crisis.

Still it's difficult to see how this will work. The US is not only pulling out of the agreement but has also reinstated secondary sanctions, meaning countries from Europe that do business with Iran may also be penalized.

US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell has already said that German firms should wind down business dealings that they have in Iran "immediately."

Indeed one of the countries hurt most by Trump's announcement is France -- and just on the heels of French President Emmanuel Macron's "bromance" with the US President.

The French have longstanding partnerships in Iran's automotive sector, which is going to be targeted by Trump's sanctions. France's oil giant Total signed a deal to develop phase 11 of Iran's South Pars field with a substantial initial investment . Trump's sanctions have also hit Iran's oil and gas sector.

While Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif have called on the Europeans to defy the US, this seems to be a tall order.

Iran's conservatives, meanwhile, aren't banking on European rescue. Instead, they are preparing their public for a confrontation between the US and Iran and have said that there should be a very strong response to Trump's withdrawal.

It's not clear what the response would look like and how this could hurt the US.

Iranians believe they have honored the deal

While Trump and his cohort of critics of the Iran deal have argued that the agreement has given the country a strategic edge in the region, allowing it leeway to perfect its ballistic missile program, the Iranians say the opposite.

They argue that they have abided by the deal, stopping their uranium enrichment program, permanently destroying their only water reactor in Arak along with many of their centrifuges. Weapons inspectors and US intelligence officials, including former CIA chief and current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have attested to Iran's compliance with the agreement.

On the other hand, Iranians say they have seen little in the way of economic benefits, with some US sanctions having remained and Trump's persistent threats to withdraw since taking office dealing a major blow to investor confidence in the Islamic republic.

Trump's announcement yesterday only cemented skepticism, giving hardliners here a big boost. Iran's hawks have always maintained the US couldn't be trusted, and now they are saying "we told you so," greatly undermining Rouhani who has persistently advocated diplomacy with the West.

An end to optimism

A great deal of optimism filled Tehran's streets when the landmark nuclear agreement was first announced on July 14, 2015. Many Iranians from various parts of the country's diaspora, particularly the US, streamed into Iran to start businesses there.

They felt strongly that a bright future could be on the horizon. As the deal played out over the past two years, that optimism faded. On Tuesday night, it took a severe blow with what could be the end of the nuclear agreement.

Trump's actions have potentially united Iranians behind hardliners against the US. Contrary to Trump's hopes to exhaust the regime with extra sanctions, he may have inadvertently extended its life. </s> The world powers struggling to preserve a nuclear deal with Iran are facing an increasingly uphill battle, with a new deadline from Tehran on finding a solution to make up for last year's unilateral U.S. withdrawal from the accord and the increasing economic hardship that has put on the Islamic Republic.

After Iran notified Britain, Russia, China, the European Union, France and Germany of its intentions in a letter, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised address Wednesday that the nations have 60 days to come up with a plan to shield his country from the sanctions imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump after he pulled Washington out of the deal.

"If the five countries join negotiations and help Iran to reach its benefits in the field of oil and banking, Iran will return to its commitments according to the nuclear deal," Rouhani said.

The 2015 deal, intended to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, promised economic incentives in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear activities. Despite efforts so far by the others to keep the deal from collapsing, Iran's economy has been struggling and its currency has plummeted in value after the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions.

Later Wednesday, Trump issued an executive order announcing new sanctions targeting Iran's steel, aluminum, copper and iron sectors, which provide foreign currency earnings for Tehran.

Many international corporations are reluctant to risk running afoul of Washington and have severed ties with Iran; a complicated barter-type system set up by the Europeans to allow their businesses to skirt direct financial transactions with Iran — and thus evade possible U.S. sanctions — is not yet finalized.

Iran has continued abiding by the stipulations of the deal, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, but had been expressing increasing frustration with the inability of the Europeans to provide economic relief, culminating with Wednesday's threat to resume higher enrichment of uranium in 60 days unless new terms are negotiated.

Despite Rouhani's threatening rhetoric and the now-ticking clock, Europeans were cautiously hoping the Iranian president was not on the verge of breaking the deal but instead seeking to show strength domestically as the economy slumps.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said his office had been in contact with all the others involved in the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, since the announcement to see what could be done to get Tehran to back down.

"Our opinion is and remains: We want to preserve the agreement, in particular to prevent Iran from coming into possession of nuclear weapons," he told reporters. "We don't need further escalation in the region."

Similarly, French Defense Minister Florence Parly told BFMTV television that "nothing would be worse than Iran leaving this deal."

"We absolutely want to keep this agreement alive," Parly said.

At a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in London, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt called Iran's threat "unwelcome" and urged it not to take "further escalatory steps," while emphasizing Britain was not ready to give up on the JCPOA.

"For as long as Iran keeps its commitments then so, too, will the United Kingdom," he said.

Hunt said Britain and the U.S. agreed on the need to confront the threat from Iran, but "it's no secret we have a different approach on how best to achieve that."

Pompeo was restrained in his own assessment of the letter that Iran sent to the JCPOA group outlining its intentions.

"I think it was intentionally ambiguous," he said. "We'll have to wait to see what Iran's actions actually are. They have made have made a number of statements about actions they have threatened to do in order to get the world to jump."

In his television address, Rouhani also tried a gambit designed to hit a sore spot for Europe, over the issue of migration and drug-smuggling.

Noting that Iran now cooperates on issues like controlling immigration and targeting Afghan opium and hashish traffickers, he said: "You are obliged ... for your own security, for protecting your youths against drugs as well as controlling influx of immigrants."

There was no immediate response from officials in Europe, which has seen an influx of refugees and migrants from the Middle East in recent years.

China, a key Iranian ally and trading partner, suggested that Washington's recent decision to deploy an aircraft carrier group and a bomber wing to the Middle East to confront unspecified threats from Tehran had added fuel to the fire.

"We regret that the U.S. has further aggravated the tension on the Iranian nuclear issue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. "We call on all parties concerned to exercise restraint, strengthen dialogue and avoid escalating tensions."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov went a step further, saying the situation surrounding the fate of the 2015 nuclear accord has been complicated by "irresponsible behavior" from Washington.

After meeting in Moscow with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif, Lavrov reaffirmed Russia's support for the deal and blamed the U.S. for undermining it.

"The U.S. is to blame for the situation and it makes it difficult for both Iran to fulfill its obligations and ... for the general state of the nuclear non-proliferation regime," Lavrov said.

Zarif insisted that Iran's decision to partially withdraw from certain provisions did not violate the agreement, and asserted it was provoked by U.S. actions toward Iran.

He also said Iran will uphold its obligations if European signatories to the deal uphold theirs.

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Jill Lawless in London, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Elaine Ganley in Paris, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Matthew Bodner in Moscow contributed. </s> BERLIN (AP) — The world powers struggling to preserve a nuclear deal with Iran are facing an increasingly uphill battle, with a new deadline from Tehran on finding a solution to make up for last year's unilateral U.S. withdrawal from the accord and the increasing economic hardship that has put on the Islamic Republic.

After Iran notified Britain, Russia, China, the European Union, France and Germany of its intentions in a letter, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised address Wednesday that the nations have 60 days to come up with a plan to shield his country from the sanctions imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump after he pulled Washington out of the deal.

"If the five countries join negotiations and help Iran to reach its benefits in the field of oil and banking, Iran will return to its commitments according to the nuclear deal," Rouhani said.

The 2015 deal, intended to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, promised economic incentives in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear activities. Despite efforts so far by the others to keep the deal from collapsing, Iran's economy has been struggling and its currency has plummeted in value after the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions.

Later Wednesday, Trump issued an executive order announcing new sanctions targeting Iran's steel, aluminum, copper and iron sectors, which provide foreign currency earnings for Tehran.

Many international corporations are reluctant to risk running afoul of Washington and have severed ties with Iran; a complicated barter-type system set up by the Europeans to allow their businesses to skirt direct financial transactions with Iran — and thus evade possible U.S. sanctions — is not yet finalized.

Iran has continued abiding by the stipulations of the deal, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, but had been expressing increasing frustration with the inability of the Europeans to provide economic relief, culminating with Wednesday's threat to resume higher enrichment of uranium in 60 days unless new terms are negotiated.

Despite Rouhani's threatening rhetoric and the now-ticking clock, Europeans were cautiously hoping the Iranian president was not on the verge of breaking the deal but instead seeking to show strength domestically as the economy slumps.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said his office had been in contact with all the others involved in the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, since the announcement to see what could be done to get Tehran to back down.

"Our opinion is and remains: We want to preserve the agreement, in particular to prevent Iran from coming into possession of nuclear weapons," he told reporters. "We don't need further escalation in the region."

Similarly, French Defense Minister Florence Parly told BFMTV television that "nothing would be worse than Iran leaving this deal."

"We absolutely want to keep this agreement alive," Parly said.

At a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in London, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt called Iran's threat "unwelcome" and urged it not to take "further escalatory steps," while emphasizing Britain was not ready to give up on the JCPOA.

"For as long as Iran keeps its commitments then so, too, will the United Kingdom," he said.

Hunt said Britain and the U.S. agreed on the need to confront the threat from Iran, but "it's no secret we have a different approach on how best to achieve that."

Pompeo was restrained in his own assessment of the letter that Iran sent to the JCPOA group outlining its intentions.

"I think it was intentionally ambiguous," he said. "We'll have to wait to see what Iran's actions actually are. They have made have made a number of statements about actions they have threatened to do in order to get the world to jump."

In his television address, Rouhani also tried a gambit designed to hit a sore spot for Europe, over the issue of migration and drug-smuggling.

Noting that Iran now cooperates on issues like controlling immigration and targeting Afghan opium and hashish traffickers, he said: "You are obliged ... for your own security, for protecting your youths against drugs as well as controlling influx of immigrants."

There was no immediate response from officials in Europe, which has seen an influx of refugees and migrants from the Middle East in recent years.

China, a key Iranian ally and trading partner, suggested that Washington's recent decision to deploy an aircraft carrier group and a bomber wing to the Middle East to confront unspecified threats from Tehran had added fuel to the fire.

"We regret that the U.S. has further aggravated the tension on the Iranian nuclear issue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. "We call on all parties concerned to exercise restraint, strengthen dialogue and avoid escalating tensions."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov went a step further, saying the situation surrounding the fate of the 2015 nuclear accord has been complicated by "irresponsible behavior" from Washington.

After meeting in Moscow with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif, Lavrov reaffirmed Russia's support for the deal and blamed the U.S. for undermining it.

"The U.S. is to blame for the situation and it makes it difficult for both Iran to fulfill its obligations and ... for the general state of the nuclear non-proliferation regime," Lavrov said.

Zarif insisted that Iran's decision to partially withdraw from certain provisions did not violate the agreement, and asserted it was provoked by U.S. actions toward Iran.

He also said Iran will uphold its obligations if European signatories to the deal uphold theirs.

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Jill Lawless in London, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Elaine Ganley in Paris, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Matthew Bodner in Moscow contributed.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sends letters to the P5+1 leaders of the United Kingdom, China, Russia, Germany, France and the European Union announcing the country's partial withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement. Furthermore, Iran announces that it will stop exporting uranium and heavy water from its nuclear program.