Iran increases uranium enrichment purity: Official

Iran announced on Sunday that it was raising the purity of its enriched uranium beyond limits of the 2015 landmark nuclear deal.

"Today, we will start enriching uranium beyond 3.67 per cent, and its level of purity depends on our needs. This will happen officially," Ali Rabiee, the spokesman for Iranian government, said in a televised statement.

On Sunday, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi also confirmed the rise of the purity of uranium enrichment from current 3.67 per cent to the level that "meets the needs of fuel for Iran's power plants", reports Xinhua news agency.

According to the state-run Press TV, Iran needs 5 per cent uranium enrichment for its Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and 20 per cent enrichment for Tehran research reactor.

A year after the US' unilateral exit from the nuclear deal, Iran withdrew from part of the agreement on May 8 and threatened more actions in case its interests under the pact cannot be guaranteed.

At that time, Iran set a 60 day deadline until July 7 for the Europeans to help Tehran reap the economic benefits of the deal.

However, Iran said that the Europeans have failed to take "practical" steps to ensure its economic interests under the deal.

Last week, Iran announced that its low-grade enriched uranium stockpile had exceeded 300 kg, its first breach of limits set in the accord.

( With inputs from IANS )