Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said the start of 20% uranium enrichment will restore Iran’s strong position in the face of lawbreakers.

“The start of 20% uranium enrichment will restore Iran’s strong position in the face of lawbreakers and will make law-breaking costly,” he said in a tweet on Tuesday.

“The time of non-commitment is over,” he wrote, adding, “Breaking the oppressive sanctions by producing power and neutralizing the sanctions is the country’s agenda.”

Also on Tuesday, Iran confirmed it was now enriching uranium to 20 percent purity, well beyond the threshold set by its 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.

“At around 7 p.m. (local time Monday), we reached 20 percent” enrichment, spokesman Behrouz Kamalavandi told state television in an interview aired on Tuesday.

Announcing the move on Monday, government spokesman Ali Rabiei said President Hassan Rouhani had ordered the enrichment “in recent days” in line with a law passed last month by the conservative-dominated parliament.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that “we resumed 20% enrichment as legislated by our parliament,” adding that the IAEA had been “duly notified.”

He stressed that Tehran took the step “after years of non-compliance” by other parties and that “our measures are fully reversible upon FULL compliance by ALL.”

Source: Iranian media