Press TV - Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the country has increased the level of its low-enriched uranium production to over 300 kilograms as had been already announced by the country in line with Articles 26 and 36 of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Zarif made the remarks on Monday while answering a question by Iran's ISNA news agency on the sidelines of a ceremony in the central Iranian city of Natanz.

�According to my information, Iran has surpassed the 300kg limit [in producing low-enriched uranium] and we had already announced [that we were planning to do] this,� Iran's top diplomat said.

He added, �According to what has been announced, we have said very clearly what we are doing and consider this as part of our rights as per the JCPOA.�

On July 17, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the Islamic will surpass the uranium stockpile limit set under the nuclear deal from June 27.

"Today the countdown to pass the 300 kilograms reserve of enriched uranium has started and in 10 days time, we will pass this limit," Behrouz Kamalvandi told reporters at the Arak Heavy Water Reactor Facility.

"This is based on the Articles 26 and 36 of the (nuclear deal), and will be reversed once other parties live up to their commitments," he added.

Iran may also increase uranium enrichment to up to 20 percent for use in local reactors, he said. The 2015 nuclear accord caps the level of purity to which Iran can enrich uranium at 3.67 percent.

Back in May, Iran scaled back some commitments under the deal and warned that in 60 days it would resume refining uranium to a higher fissile degree if Europe failed to shield its trade from US sanctions.

President Hassan Rouhani announced that Iran would stop observing restrictions on its stocks of enriched uranium and heavy water agreed under the nuclear deal.

Tehran has said it may go even further by July 8 unless remaining partners to the deal -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- help it circumvent US sanctions and especially enable it to sell its oil.

Earlier in May, Iran announced that it had increased by fourfold the production rate of uranium enriched to 3.67% just a few weeks after the country officially stopped implementing some of its commitments.

Kamalvandi made the remarks while addressing reporters at Natanz nuclear facility, saying, "This issue does not mean an increase in enrichment level or an increase in centrifuge machines or a change in the type of centrifuges, but the production capacity of these 3.67% enriched uranium will be quadrupled."

He added that Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) of this issue.

US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington in May 2018 from the JCPOA, reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries -- the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany -- in July 2015. He also decided to re-impose unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.

Under the JCPOA, Iran is allowed to keep 300 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 3.67 percent. The deal requires Tehran to sell off any enriched uranium above the limit on international markets in return for natural uranium.

On the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran announced that it would suspend the implementation of some of its commitments under the deal, announcing that it would stop exporting excess uranium and heavy water, setting a 60-day deadline for the five remaining parties to the deal to take practical measures towards ensuring its interests in the face of the American sanctions.