Iran is ready to enrich uranium beyond the level set by the 2015 nuclear deal.

Moving toward weapons-grade uranium next step, aide says

TEHRAN, Iran — A top aide to Iran’s supreme leader said the Islamic Republic is ready to enrich uranium beyond the level set by Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal, just ahead of a deadline it set Sunday for Europe to offer new terms to the accord.

A video message by Ali Akbar Velayati included him saying that “Americans directly and Europeans indirectly violated the deal.” European parties to the deal have yet to offer a way for Iran to avoid the economic sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump since he pulled the U.S. out of the accord a year ago.

America has moved thousands of troops, an aircraft carrier, B-52 bombers and advanced fighter jets to the Mideast. Mysterious oil tanker attacks near the Strait of Hormuz, attacks by Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen on Saudi Arabia and Iran shooting down a U.S. military drone have raised fears of a wider conflict.

In the video, available Saturday on a website for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Velayati said that increasing enrichment closer to weapons-grade levels was “unanimously agreed upon by every component of the establishment.”

“We will show reaction exponentially as much as they violate it. We reduce our commitments as much as they reduce it,” said Velayati, Khamenei’s adviser on international affairs. “If they go back to fulfilling their commitments, we will do so as well.”

Under the atomic accord, Iran agreed to enrich uranium to no more than 3.67 percent, which is enough for peaceful pursuits but is below weapons-grade levels of 90 percent. Iran denies it seeks nuclear weapons, but the deal sought to prevent that as a possibility by limiting enrichment and Iran’s stockpile of uranium to 660 pounds.

On Monday, Iran and U.N. inspectors acknowledged it had broken the stockpile limit. Combining that with increasing its enrichment levels narrows the one-year window experts believe Iran would need to have enough material to build a nuclear weapon if it chose to do so.