A confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency stated that Iran had violated the nuclear agreement by producing uranium to be used for nuclear weapons.

While mutual statements continued between Washington and Tehran regarding adherence to the nuclear agreement, a European official said that Washington should take the first step.

According to the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran began producing uranium, in violation of the nuclear agreement.

The report added that Iran produced a small amount of radioactive metal after it obtained new equipment that was supplied to one of its nuclear sites in Isfahan, which is subject to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The nuclear agreement prohibits Iran from producing uranium, as a guarantee that it is not seeking to manufacture a nuclear weapon, while Iran argues that it is producing it for scientific research purposes.

The United Nations agency said - in a statement - that Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi informed the member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency of recent developments regarding Iran's research and development activities to produce uranium metal, within the framework of its declared goal to produce fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor.

"On February 8, the agency verified the presence of 3.6 grams of uranium metal in the fuel plate production plant in Isfahan, Iran," it added.

Reuters reported that Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alawi said that continued Western pressure could push Tehran to self-defense such as a "trapped cat" and to pursue nuclear weapons, which is what the Islamic Republic has insisted for years that its intention is not to go to it completely.

The Intelligence Division of the Israeli Army (Aman) - according to the Israeli Jerusalem Post newspaper - estimated that Iran needs at least two years to manufacture a nuclear bomb, if it decided to start doing so.

Mutual statements

In light of the exchange of statements between Tehran and Washington regarding adherence to the nuclear agreement concluded with the international powers in 2015, White House spokeswoman Jane Saki said that Iran must abide by the nuclear agreement in order to resume diplomatic efforts with it.

Sacchi added that the nuclear deal will form a platform for a new agreement with Tehran in coordination with partners.

For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said that the Biden administration has an opportunity, but limited, to take a new political course on Iran.

As for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, he said that his country is ready to implement its nuclear obligations if the remaining parties to the agreement abide by.

Rouhani stressed that there is no other option but to return to activate the nuclear agreement, especially since Tehran has managed to bypass the American economic pressures and is on the verge of winning the economic war that was imposed on it, as he put it.

But Cornelia Ernst, the European Parliament's official for relations with Iran, said that Tehran had not violated the nuclear deal.

And Ernst added - in an interview with the "Without Borders" program - that the first step should come from Washington, because it is the one that caused this chaos.

The European official also said that the nuclear agreement with Iran should be activated through the return of the United States to it, and called on Iran to withdraw uranium enrichment.

After long negotiations, in 2015 the United States reached an agreement with Iran preventing it from possessing nuclear weapons, which was also signed by China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain, before it was ratified by the United Nations.

But former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018, considering it insufficient at the nuclear level.