Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that the country would soon begin researching and developing improved centrifuges to speed up the process of enriching uranium.
“I, as of now, announce the third step,” Rouhani said on state television late on Wednesday, just as the United States announced that it was imposing sanctions against an oil shipping network with ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
“All limitations on our research and development will be lifted on Friday,” Rouhani said.
The long-signalled move marks Iran’s third breach of the international deal it signed in 2015, under which it agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for economic sanctions relief.
In July, Iran abandoned two of its commitments under the deal by allowing its stockpile of enriched uranium to exceed the 300-kilogram limit and breaching the cap on the purity of its uranium stocks.
Specifically, Iran would start to develop centrifuges to speed up its uranium enrichment, without overstepping, as yet, the limits set under the nuclear deal.
Iran in July abandoned two other nuclear commitments: to keep its stockpile of enriched uranium below 300kg and a 3.67 percent cap on the purity of its uranium stocks.
The announcement came hours after Rouhani had threatened to take the step if Europe failed to provide a solution by Friday.
