Iran raises uranium enrichment to 4.5% of purity: spokesman

TEHRAN -- The spokesman for Atomic Energy Organization of Iran announced Monday that the Islamic republic has raised the concentration of its enriched uranium to 4.5 percent, official IRNA news agency reported.

Behrooz Kamalvandi told IRNA that the enriched uranium up to five percent of purity is used as the fuel for power plants.

Earlier on the day, Kamalvandi said that Iran will aim at production of 20 percent uranium enrichment in the next step if the signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal do not help Iran benefit from the economic privileges of the deal, according to Tasnim news agency.

On Sunday, Iran announced that it has started the measures to enrich uranium beyond 3.67 percent of purity, a limit set by the nuclear agreement for Iran's enrichment concentration.

Iran has said that it will reduce its commitments to the deal unless the parties to the accord take "practical and concrete" measures to counter the anti-Iran economic sanctions of the United States after the latter's unilateral exit from the deal in May 2018.