Rouhani challenges Trump: We will enrich uranium as much as we want

The declaration of the Iranian president unleashes the fury of his American counterpart.  Tehran's oil exports and the banking sector are on their knees.  The limit of 300 kg of low-enriched uranium reserves has been exceeded: it is the first official violation of the nuclear agreement signed in 2015.

Tehran (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Tension between Iran and the United States has reached maximum levels.  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has in fact decided to openly challenge Washington announcing that Tehran will increase uranium enrichment "any amount that we want", starting next Sunday (7 July). 

The official declaration of Rouhani was soon followed by that of Donald Trump who warned Iran not to launch threats "come back to bite you like nobody has been bitten before”.

The escalation of the last few hours is due to what happened two days ago, when the Tehran authorities declared that they had exceeded the limit of 300 kilograms of low-enriched uranium reserves.  Starting from Sunday therefore, the Islamic Republic will increase production levels beyond the threshold of 3.7%.

In doing so, Rouhani's stated objective is to shake the immobility of the countries of Europe still tied to the pact, called to act to counter the American sanctions that are bringing the Iranian economy to its knees.

Overcoming the 300 kg threshold is, by far, the first violation of the obligations established by the historic Iranian nuclear agreement (Jcpoa), signed in July 2015 by Tehran and the 5 + 1 (the five permanent members of the Security Council, USA  , Russia, China, Great Britain and France, plus Germany).  Previously, Tehran had always kept faith with its commitments, as certified by the IAEA experts (the UN atomic agency).

These new winds of war between the United States and Iran are the most serious threat in the Middle Eastern region, with possible repercussions at the global level.  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently said that "the United States does not want a war with Iran", despite the dispatch of warships and bombers in Gulf waters and unclear naval incidents.

The origin of the clash between the two countries is President Trump's decision in May 2018 to withdraw from the nuclear agreement reached with difficulty by his predecessor Barack Obama, introducing the toughest sanctions in history.  The Jcpoa had given hope to the Iranian population, raising the economy with the return to oil sales on international markets and the end of the embargo on import-export products.  Instead, the decision of the American president caused a significant decline in the Iranian economy and a collapse in the oil trade.