As speculations grow about a possible Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear sites by Israel, the Iranian regime has increased its air defenses around the Fordo uranium enrichment facility in the north of the country, according to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and Iranian media.

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On Thursday, Iran's air defense commander Alireza Sabahifard inaugurated a command and control facility of the Hazrat Masumeh Air Defense Group around the site, saying that Iran was expanding its air defense system and "the enemy should not even think of attacking Iran."

He also said Iran's air and cyber defense systems were exceptionally advanced.

Fordo is an underground facility for enriching uranium using IR2-M centrifuges. Tehran began enriching uranium at Fordo to 20% in January. At the same time, the Natanz enrichment facility in Isfah, central Iran, began enriching uranium to 60%.

A fire broke out in the Natanz facility in April 2021. In January 2013, an explosion occurred at a facility in Fordo and a nearby electrical facility.

Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Mahdi Farahi said that Tehran would soon launch a new and more advanced version of its Bavar-373 air defense system that could be as advanced, or even more, than Russia's S-400. Iran unveiled Bavar-373 in August 2019 after it independently developed a system in response to Russia's prohibition on exporting its defense system at the time, S-300, to Iran.

Farahi claimed the new system would be capable of identifying 300 targets simultaneously, tracking 60 of them, engaging six targets simultaneously, and even counter attempts to jam the system.

In June, Dmitry Shugaev, director of the Russian Military-Technical Cooperation Service, said that if the new Iranian system will indeed be better than Russia's S-400, then it will be capable of hitting targets within a 400-kilometer (250 miles) radius. He also said that during a visit to a military exhibition in Russia in 2020, the Iranian defense minister was interested in several Russian air defense systems, including the S-400.

Senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall said that due to past experience and sanctions imposed on Iran, the regime constantly strives to improve and upgrade the air defense of its nuclear sites and strategic infrastructure with systems of its own.

He stressed that Iran's acquisition of S-400 could lead to US sanctions on Russia, despite the fact that the United States has lifted the Iran embargo on arms exports and imports as part of the nuclear deal negotiations.

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World powers resumed high-level talks in Vienna on Tuesday focused on bringing the United States back into the nuclear deal with Iran, in their first session since comments surfaced from the Iranian foreign minister alleging that Russia once tried to scupper the pact.

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The Russian Foreign Ministry has not responded to requests for comment on the remarks from Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, made in a seven-hour interview with a think tank associated with the Iranian presidency that leaked over the weekend.

Ahead of the main talks, Russia's top representative Mikhail Ulyanov said he'd met on the side together with officials from Iran and China, but did not mention anything about Zarif's comments.

"We compared notes and exchanged views on the way ahead towards full restoration of the nuclear deal," he tweeted. "It was a very fruitful meeting."

Following the main meeting with his counterparts from China, Germany, France, and Britain – the other parties to the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA – Ulyanov tweeted that they were "guided by the unity of purpose."

"Which is full restoration of the nuclear deal in its original form," he wrote. "It was decided to expedite the process."

China's delegate Wang Qun told reporters on his way out of the talks that discussions would continue on Wednesday.

Asked in Berlin about Zarif's remarks, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that the talks in Vienna are "anything but easy" but have been constructive so far.

"My impression from the talks is that irrespective of [how] things developed in the past, everyone seems to be working to keep the JCPOA alive," he said.

The US is not at the table because it unilaterally pulled out of the deal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump, who restored and augmented American sanctions in a campaign of "maximum pressure" to try and force Iran into renegotiating the pact with more concessions.

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US President Joe Biden wants to rejoin the deal, however, and there is a US delegation in Vienna taking part in indirect talks with Iran, with diplomats from the other world powers acting as go-betweens.

The deal promises Iran economic incentives in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. The reimposition of American sanctions has left the country's economy reeling, and Tehran has reacted by steadily increasing its violations of the restrictions of the deal, such as increasing the purity of uranium it enriches and its stockpiles, in a thus-far unsuccessful effort to pressure the other countries to provide relief.

The ultimate goal of the deal is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, something it insists it doesn't want to do. Iran now has enough enriched uranium to make a bomb, but nowhere near the amount it had before the nuclear deal was signed.

The comments from Zarif, who himself helped negotiate the original 2015 nuclear deal, have the potential to complicate the Vienna talks, which are currently focused on how the US would roll back its sanctions – and which ones – and how Iran would return to compliance.

In the interview, reviewed by The Associated Press, Zarif describes Russia as wanting to stop the nuclear deal before it was struck under the Obama administration in 2015, suggesting Moscow wanted to keep Iran at odds with the West.

Iran's Foreign Ministry has called the leak of the recording "illegal," but hasn't disputed its authenticity.

The Vienna talks began in early April, and there have been several rounds of high-level discussions, while expert groups have been working on proposals on how to resolve the issues around American sanctions and Iranian compliance, as well as the "possible sequencing" of the US return.

The comments from Zarif are just the latest complication that the diplomats have to deal with.

Among other things, an attack suspected to have been carried out by Israel recently struck Iran's Natanz nuclear site, causing an unknown amount of damage.

Tehran retaliated by beginning to enrich a small amount of uranium up to 60% purity, its highest level ever.

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Iran began enriching uranium up to 60% purity Friday, its highest level ever, after an attack targeted its Natanz nuclear site, Parliament Speaker Mohamed Bagher Qalibaf told state TV.

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The comment by Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, quoted by state television, did not elaborate on the amount Iran planned to enrich. However, it is likely to raise tensions even as Iran negotiates with world powers in Vienna over a way to allow the U.S. back into the agreement and lift the crushing economic sanctions it faces.

The announcement also marks a significant escalation after the sabotage that damaged centrifuges, an attack this past weekend suspected of having been carried out by Israel. While Israel has yet to claim it, the country is widely suspected of having carried out the still-unexplained sabotage at Natanz, Iran's main enrichment site.

"The will of the Iranian nation is a miracle-maker and it will defuse any conspiracy," state television quoted Qalibaf as saying. He said the enrichment began just after midnight Friday.

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the country's civilian nuclear arm, later acknowledged the move to 60%, according to state TV. Ali Akbar Salehi said more details would be forthcoming and declined to further elaborate.

It wasn't clear why the first announcement came from Qalibaf, a hard-line former leader in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard already named as a potential presidential candidate in Iran's upcoming June election.

While 60% is higher than any level Iran previously enriched uranium, it is still lower than weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Qalibaf announced on Twitter: "I am proud to announce that at 00:40 [Friday] … Iranian scientists were able to produce 60% enriched uranium."

On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran's move to enrich uranium up to 60% purity was a response to the sabotage at its key nuclear facility. Rouhani added that the Islamic Republic had no intention of building a nuclear weapon.

After an explosion at its Natanz uranium enrichment site on Sunday blamed by Tehran on archfoe Israel, Iran said it would begin enriching uranium at 60%, a move bringing the fissile material closer to levels suitable for a bomb.

It also said it would activate 1,000 advanced centrifuge machines at the site.

"Of course, the security and intelligence officials must give the final reports, but apparently it is the crime of the Zionists, and if the Zionists act against our nation, we will answer it," Rouhani said in a televised cabinet meeting.

"Our response to their malice is replacing the damaged centrifuges with more advanced ones and ramping up the enrichment to 60% at the Natanz facility."

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The International Atomic Energy Agency is policing the landmark 2015 pact that placed restrictions on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for lifting international sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

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That deal has, however, been fraying since US President Donald Trump pulled out the United States in 2018 and reimposed crippling economic sanctions on Tehran. The Islamic Republic has been responding since then by breaching the deal's restrictions step-by-step. Its latest announcement came on Sunday.

"IAEA inspectors continue to carry out verification and monitoring activities in the country," the Vienna-based agency said in a statement. "The IAEA will keep its member states informed of any developments in this regard in a timely manner as appropriate."

Iran announced on Sunday that it would abandon limitations on enriching uranium but would continue to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog.

Iran has already breached many of the deal's restrictions, including on the fissile purity to which it enriches uranium, its stock of enriched uranium, which models of centrifuge it enriches uranium with, and where it enriches uranium.

It has, however, not gone far over the level of purity allowed – the deal sets a limit of 3.67% and Iran has stayed around 4.5% in recent months, well below the 20% it reached before the deal and the roughly 90% that is bomb-grade.

"The IAEA is aware of Iran's announcement regarding a fifth step in reducing its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)," the IAEA statement said, referring to the deal by its official name.

"The IAEA notes that the (Iranian) government statement also said that Iran's cooperation with the agency will continue as before."

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"The organization has the possibility to produce 5%, 20% and 60%, and has this capacity," AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said during a news conference at the underground Fordow nuclear plant, the official IRIB news agency reported.

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"At the moment, the need is for 5%," he added.

Iran's highest political authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said last month that the Islamic republic had never pursued the building or use of nuclear weapons, which its religion forbids.

Israel has long insisted that Iran is lying about its nuclear intentions. In 2018, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that Israel's foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, successfully penetrated and stolen Iran's clandestine nuclear archive, proving the Islamic republic never abandoned its aspirations of becoming a nuclear power and that it brazenly lied to the International Atomic Energy Agency, even after it vowed to come clean.

Iran said on Thursday it had resumed uranium enrichment at Fordow, stepping further away from its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after the United States pulled out of it.

The pact bans the production of nuclear material at Fordow, a highly sensitive site that Iran hid from UN non-proliferation inspectors until its exposure in 2009.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Fordow on Sunday, Kamalvandi said.

Since May, Iran has begun to exceed limits on its nuclear capacity set by the pact in retaliation for US pressure on Tehran to negotiate restrictions on its ballistic missile program and support for terrorist proxy forces around the Middle East.

Iran says its measures are reversible if European signatories to the accord manage to restore its access to foreign trade promised under the nuclear deal but blocked by the reimposition of US sanctions.

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President Donald Trump has tried to open talks with the Iranians in an attempt to amend the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers.

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Trump has insisted that any new agreement would have to address Iran's ballistic missile program, but Tehran has rebuffed his efforts, saying it would not negotiate unless he lifted the sanctions he reimposed when he withdrew from the nuclear deal.

In his statement on Monday, Zarif offered an initially high price for negotiations on his country's ballistic missile program – the halt of American arms sales to both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two key US allies in the Persian Gulf.

Zarif brought up the ballistic missile offer during an interview with NBC News that aired Monday night as he's in New York for meetings at the United Nations.

Zarif's comments marked the first time an Iranian official has mentioned even the possibility of talks on the Iranian missiles.

But the fact that he mentioned it at all potentially represents a change in policy. The country's ballistic missile program remains under control of the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Since its 1979 Islamic Revolution and the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran, Iran has faced a variety of economic sanctions. That has cut into Iran's ability to buy advanced weaponry abroad. While Gulf Arab nations have purchased advanced fighter jets, Iran still relies on pre-1979 US fighter jets, as well as other aging Soviet MiGs and other planes.

Facing that shortfall, Iran instead invested heavily into its ballistic missile program. That's due to both sanctions and the memory of the missile attacks launched by Saddam Hussein during Iran's bloody 1980s war with Iraq.

In pulling out of the nuclear deal, Trump in part blamed the accord not touching on Iran's ballistic missile program. The US fears Iran could use its missile technology and space program to build nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, something Tehran denies it wants to do.

Meanwhile, Khamenei warned on Tuesday that Iran was going to retaliate over the seizure of a supertanker carrying 2.1 million barrels of light crude oil.

The vessel, Grace 1, was seized with the help of British Royal Marines earlier this month off Gibraltar.

Khamenei called the seizure of the ship "piracy" in a televised speech Tuesday.

"God willing, the Islamic republic and its committed forces will not leave this evil without a response," he said.

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Saturday that Britain would facilitate the release the ship if Iran could provide guarantees the vessel was not going to breach European sanctions on oil shipments to Syria.

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Zarif said on Twitter that Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had killed an earlier agreement in 2005 by insisting that Iran stop all uranium enrichment.

Bolton & Netanyahu killed Paris agreement between E3 & Iran in '05 by insisting on zero enrichment.

Result? Iran increased its enrichment 100 fold by 2012.

Now they've lured @realDonaldTrump into killing #JCPOA w/the same delusion.#B_Team hasn't learned. BUT THE WORLD SHOULD.

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) July 9, 2019

"Now they've lured @realdonaldtrump into killing #JCPOA (the 2015 nuclear deal) w/the same delusion," Zarif added.

Iran enriched uranium beyond a 3.67% purity limit set by its deal with major powers this week, the UN nuclear watchdog policing the deal said on Monday, confirming a move previously announced by Tehran.

"[International Atomic Energy Agency] Director General Yukiya Amano has informed the IAEA Board of Governors that Agency inspectors on July 8 verified that Iran is enriching uranium above 3.67% U-235," an IAEA spokesman said.

A report to member states obtained by Reuters said that the agency had verified the enrichment level using online enrichment monitors, and that samples had also been taken on Monday for analysis.

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Netanyahu made the remarks after Iran said it is fully prepared to enrich uranium at any level and at any amount, in further defiance of US efforts to squeeze it with sanctions and force it to renegotiate a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

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In a news conference that was broadcast live, senior Iranian officials said Tehran, which has denied seeking nuclear arms, would keep reducing its commitments every 60 days unless signatories of the pact moved to protect it from US sanctions.

"This is a very, very dangerous step," Netanyahu said in public remarks at the weekly cabinet meeting.

"Iran has violated its solemn promise under the UN Security Council not to enrich uranium beyond a certain level. The enrichment of uranium is made for one reason and one reason only: It's for the creation of atomic bombs," Netanyahu told the cabinet.

"The leaders of the P5+1 promised and committed themselves to snapback sanctions the minute Iran did that. It just did. Where are they?" Netanyahu said.

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The comments by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani come as tensions remain high between Iran and the US over the deal, which US President Donald Trump pulled America from over a year ago.

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Authorities on Monday acknowledged Iran broke through a limit placed on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium.

An increasing stockpile and higher enrichment closes the estimated one-year window Iran would need to produce enough material for a nuclear bomb, something Iran denies it wants but the nuclear deal sought to prevent.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Rouhani's comments seemed to signal that Europe has yet to offer Iran anything to alleviate the pain of the renewed US sanctions targeting its oil industry and top officials.

Iran's nuclear deal currently bars it from enriching uranium above 3.67%, which is enough for nuclear power plants but far below the 90% needed for weapons.

"In any amount that we want, any amount that is required, we will take over 3.67," Rouhani said.

"Our advice to Europe and the United States is to go back to logic and to the negotiating table," Rouhani added. "Go back to understanding, to respecting the law and resolutions of the UN Security Council. Under those conditions, all of us can abide by the nuclear deal."

There was no immediate reaction in Europe, where the European Union just the day before finalized nominations to take over the bloc's top posts.

On Tuesday, European powers separately issued a statement over Iran breaking through its stockpile limit, calling on Tehran "to reverse this step and to refrain from further measures that undermine the nuclear deal."

Under the nuclear deal, Iran agreed to have less than 300 kg (660 pounds) of uranium enriched to a maximum of 3.67%. Both Iran and the UN's nuclear watchdog agency confirmed Monday that Tehran had breached that limit.

While that represents Iran's first major departure from the accord, it still remains likely a year away from having enough material for a nuclear weapon. Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes, but the West fears it could allow Iran to build a bomb.

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