Khamenei aide says Iran is prepared to enrich uranium unless Europe provides new terms

Ali Akbar Velayati
(Image credit: GEORGE OURFALIAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Iran is ready to enrich its uranium beyond the limits of the 2015 nuclear pact, unless European leaders offer Tehran more concessions.

On Saturday, Ali Akbar Velayati, a top aide to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a video message that the Islamic Republic is prepared to breach the pact after Iran bolstered its stockpile of uranium last week. The message comes just ahead of a Sunday deadline Iran set for European countries to offer new terms in light of recently-imposed U.S. sanctions. If Europe does go along with the sanctions, Velayati said, "every component of the establishment" has agreed to boost uranium enrichment levels, citing the fact that the U.S. failed to hold up its end of the bargain when Washington left the agreement last year.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.