WarSclerotic

Iran has the technical capability to enrich uranium to a higher level than it could before a multinational nuclear deal was reached to curb its nuclear program, state TV quoted the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, as saying Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has given world powers involved in a 2015 deal meant to curb Iran’s nuclear aspirations a May 12 deadline to “fix the terrible flaws” in the agreement, or he will withdraw from it, effectively burying it.

Salehi warned Trump against taking that course.

“Iran is not bluffing,” he said. “Technically, we are fully prepared to enrich uranium higher than we used to produce before the deal was reached.”

“I hope Trump comes to his senses and stays in the deal,” Salehi added.

Under the deal, which led to the lifting of most international sanctions in 2016, Iran’s level of uranium enrichment cannot exceed 3.6%.

Iran stopped producing 20% enriched uranium and gave up the majority of its stockpile as part of the agreement with the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia.

Uranium refined to 20% fissile purity is well beyond the 5% normally required to fuel civilian nuclear power plants, although still well short of highly enriched 80 to 90% purity needed for a nuclear bomb.

Tehran has dismissed Trump’s demands to fix the agreement, ruling out any possibility of negotiations regarding Iran’s ballistic missile program, its nuclear activities beyond 2025 and its international role in the Middle East.

Although Britain, France and Germany back the deal as the best available option to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, they have called on Iran to limit its regional influence and curb the missile program.

A British government spokesman defended the accord, saying in a statement: “We have never been naive about Iran and its nuclear intentions.”

“That is why the IAEA inspection regime agreed as part of the Iran nuclear deal is one of the most extensive and robust in the history of international nuclear accords,” he said.

“It remains a vitally important way of independently verifying that Iran is adhering to the deal and that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful,” the spokesman explained.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran’s top leader accused the United States of pushing Saudi Arabia into a war with Iran.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on his website that the “Americans are trying to put Saudis and some other regional countries before Iran. If they are wise, they should not be deceived by the U.S.”

Khamenei also claimed the U.S. wants to put the financial burden of confronting Iran on the shoulders of other Middle East countries but warned, “They will be hit and defeated if they confront Iran.”

He urged the U.S. to leave the Middle East, saying its military presence causes insecurity and conflict.

His remarks came amid a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who expressed support for Israel and Saudi Arabia and said Iran “destabilizes this entire region.”

Saudi Arabia and Iran are longtime regional rivals, who back opposing sides in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Iran has expanded its footprint across the region in recent years by backing Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and an array of armed groups.

Both Israel and Saudi Arabia view Iran as a regional menace and have long called for the United States to adopt a more aggressive stance toward it.