Iran breaches enriched uranium limit under nuclear deal: Reports

Iran has exceeded the 300-kilogram limit on its stockpile of enriched uranium set under a 2015 nuclear deal, state media reported on Monday.

Citing an "informed source," Iran's Fars news agency reported that the stockpile was measured and found to have exceeded the agreed limit laid out in the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

On June 17, a spokesperson for Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation had said Iran would breach the limit within 10 days.

Speaking at the Arak heavy water production facility, Behrouz Kamalvandi acknowledged that the country had already quadrupled its production of low-enriched uranium and said Tehran would increase uranium enrichment levels "based on the country's needs," The Times of Israel reported.

That increase, he said, could be to any level, from 3.67 per cent, which is the current limit set by the nuclear deal.

Iran needs five per cent enrichment for its nuclear power plant in the southern port of Bushehr and 20 per cent enrichment for a Tehran research reactor, the spokesman was quoted as saying.

The move came as a part of Iran's recent 60-day ultimatum to the European Union for renegotiating the pact after the US withdrawal last year.

Following the decision of US President Donald Trump, Washington pulled itself out of the deal in May 2018, claiming that it did not sufficiently rein in Iran's nuclear program and did nothing to stop it from developing missiles or destabilising the Middle East.

The EU, however, insisted that the pact is an important pillar of regional and global security and was never meant to address those other issues.

In May, Iran formally dropped the limitations on uranium enrichment and the production of heavy water as laid down in the deal, citing its ultimatum to the EU, which it accused of failing to protect Iran against the renewed US sanctions.