Iran exceeds Uranium enrichment limit set under 2015 nuclear deal

Iran has officially surpassed the 3.67 percent Uranium enrichment limit set under the 2015 nuclear deal and could consider increasing the stockpile to 20 percent in the future, the country's nuclear agency said on Monday.

"Today we surpassed 3.67 percent [enrichment limit]", IRNA news agency quoted spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, Behrouz Kamalvandi, as saying . "We do not need 20 percent [enriched] fuel now, but we will produce it if we want to. There are no obstacles and problems".

Kamalvandi added that the decision of whether to increase the limit to 20 percent was recently discussed during sessions of the Supreme National Security Council, reported Sputnik news agency.

The country had stopped complying with some elements of the 2015 nuclear deal (officially called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) in May, a year after the US unilaterally withdrew from the treaty.

Signed by China, France, Germany, European Union, Iran, Russia, the UK and the US, the JCPoA treaty was aimed at limiting Iran's civilian energy programme, thereby preventing it from developing nuclear weapons at some point in the future, in exchange for relief from sanctions that were crippling the country's economy.

The deal was hailed as a major diplomatic victory by the Obama administration. However, last year, Donald Trump-led US government had withdrawn from the deal, terming it as "defective at its core".

Washington's decision of pulling out from the agreement soured its ties with Iran. In the past year, the Trump administration has slapped a multitude of sanctions on Tehran citing the latter's support to state-sponsored terrorism and conflicts.