Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday he ordered atomic authorities to increase the country's nuclear enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world powers collapses.
The remarks come nearly a month after U.S. President Donald Trump announced U.S.'s withdrawal from the landmark agreement struck by his predecessor Barack Obama and world leaders with Iran in 2015. Under the deal, Iran agreed to curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for easing of crippling international sanctions.
The increase in nuclear enrichment detailed by Khamenei speech would not exceed limits set by the nuclear accord, which European countries have said they hope to salvage.
In a televised address marking the 29th anniversary of the death of Iran revolution leader Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, Khamenei also vowed never to accept limits on Tehran's ballistic missile program.
One of Trump's demands – which European allies support in principle – is new negotiations to rein in Iran's ballistic missile program, which was not covered by the nuclear deal.
Khamenei ruled this out, saying, "Some Europeans are talking about limiting our defensive missile program. I am telling the Europeans, 'Limiting our missile work is a dream that will never come true.'"
"Our enemies will never be able to halt our nuclear progress," he said.
In the event that world powers involved in the initial agreement prove unable to protect the deal's economic benefits for Iran, Khamenei said, "I have ordered Iran's atomic energy agency to be prepared to upgrade our [uranium] enrichment capacity."
He appeared to be hardening a threat to restore Iran's disputed enrichment drive that he previously made immediately after Trump's withdrawal from the deal.
In his speech, Khamenei also warned that anyone who fires one missile at his country "will be hit by 10" in response. However, he dismissed speculation of imminent war as "propaganda" by the West.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday she condemned a tweet from Khamenei saying that Israel is a "cancerous tumor" that needs to be removed, pledging to increase pressure on Tehran to scale back its military influence in the region.
Speaking alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Berlin, Merkel said Israel's security was a top priority for Germany.
The two leaders were asked about a tweet Sunday from Khamenei's account, saying his country's "stance against Israel is the same stance we have always taken."
"#Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated: it is possible and it will happen," the tweet said.
The Twitter account is run by Khamenei's office and it's not known if he dictates the tweets himself. The quote is from several years ago.
Netanyahu called the tweet "quite extraordinary."
"Iran calls for our destruction, but it's also seeking nuclear weapons to carry out its genocidal design," he said.
Meanwhile, European powers are scrambling to save the nuclear accord, which they see as crucial to forestalling an Iranian nuclear weapon, by seeking to ring-fence trade with Iran against new U.S. financial sanctions to dissuade Tehran from quitting the deal.
Under the deal, the Islamic republic curbed its capacity to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel and in return won a lifting of most international sanctions that had hobbled its economy.
For all of Iran's fierce public riposte to U.S. threats of tougher sanctions, some senior Iranian officials see the U.S. position as a "bargaining strategy" and believe the door to a diplomatic compromise should stay open.
Maj. Gen. Ali Jafari, commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said last year that it had missiles with a 2,000-km (1,200-mile) range that could hit archenemy Israel and "most American interests and forces" in the Middle East.
"The enemies don't want an independent Iran in the region. … We will continue our support for oppressed nations," Khamenei said.
Shiite Muslim Iran backs President Bashar Assad in Syria's civil war, Shiite militias in Iraq, Houthi rebels in Yemen's conflict and Lebanon's heavily armed Hezbollah terrorist organization.
Khamenei said Iran had no intention of curbing its influence in the Middle East as demanded by the Western powers and urged Arab youth to stand up to U.S. pressure.
"Young Arabs, you should take action and the initiative to control your own future. … Some regional countries act like their own people's enemies," he said.
