Iran, nuclear deal partners to meet as accord under threat

Senior officials from Iran and the remaining signatories to its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers are gathering in Vienna Friday as tensions in the Persian Gulf simmer and Tehran is poised to surpass a uranium stockpile threshold, posing a threat to the accord.

The regular quarterly meeting of the accord's so-called joint commission, which brings together senior officials from Iran, France, Germany, Britain, Russia, China and the European Union, is meant to discuss implementation of the deal.

Iran is insisting that it wants to save the agreement and has urged Europeans to start buying Iranian oil or give Iran a credit line.

The 2015 agreement aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

The United States withdrew from the accord last year and has imposed new sanctions on Iran to cripple its economy.

Iran recently quadrupled its production of low-enriched uranium.

It previously said it would surpass a 300-kilogram stockpile limit set by the accord by Thursday, but an Iranian official said that it was 2.8 kilograms below that limit Wednesday and there would be no new assessment until "after the weekend."
But if the US is attacked, "we will respond with military force."