Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday accused Iran of breaching the nuclear deal in order to "blackmail" the international community into relieving economic pressure on the Islamic Republic.
Speaking at a reception in Jerusalem marking the United States' July 4 independence day, Netanyahu said, "This week Iran openly violated the nuclear deal by increasing the stockpile of enriched uranium (to beyond that) allowed under the deal.”
"They're hoping, that regime, that by violating the deal it will be able to blackmail the world into making concessions and reducing the economic pressure on it," he added.
"We should do the exact opposite. Now is the time to increase the pressure. Now is the time to stand firm," said Netanyahu.
His comments come a day after Iran said it had exceeded a limit on its enriched uranium reserves set under the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
US President Donald Trump, responding to Iran’s announcement, warned that the Islamic Republic is “playing with fire”.
Iran says it no longer feels bound by certain limits in the deal due to the crippling sanctions re-imposed by the United States after Washington pulled out of the accord in May 2018.
Iran’s announcement followed a meeting with European, Russian and Chinese officials to discuss ways to save the 2015 nuclear following the US withdrawal.
Iran’s envoy to Friday’s meeting in Vienna said that European countries had offered too littleto persuade Tehran to back off from its plans to breach limits imposed by the deal.
