The White House said Tuesday it remains committed to nuclear negotiations with Iran despite Tehran's "provocative" statement that it will ramp up uranium enrichment.

"We are certainly concerned about these provocative announcements," President Joe Biden's press secretary, Jen Psaki, told reporters.

"We believe that the diplomatic path is the only path forward here and that having a discussion, even indirect, is the best way to come to a resolution."

Iran announced it was accelerating its production of enriched uranium after damage was inflicted on the Natanz nuclear plant in a mysterious incident that Tehran blames on Israeli sabotage.

The incident has cast a shadow over attempts by Washington to negotiate a renewal of the so-called JCPOA deal, which brought Iran's nuclear power industry under international scrutiny but which Donald Trump abandoned in 2018.

Indirect talks between Washington and Tehran are underway in Vienna, and Psaki said she expects them to continue.

The six countries that negotiated the JCPOA with Iran should be "unified in rejecting" Iran's threat to accelerate uranium enrichment, Psaki said.

However, it "underscores the imperative of returning to mutual compliance with the JCPOA," she said, calling talks last week "constructive."

"While (talks) were difficult and while we expect this to be long, we expect and we have not been alerted of any change in planned attendance in meetings that will resume later this week."

Timeline: The unravelling of the Iran nuclear deal
Tehran (AFP) April 13, 2021 - A landmark 2015 agreement on Iran's nuclear programme has been unravelling since the United States pulled out in May 2018.

Here is a timeline:

- US withdrawal -

President Donald Trump withdraws the US from the deal negotiated between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the US -- plus Germany on May 8, 2018.

"We cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement," Trump says.

- US sanctions -

Later that year, Washington reimposes sanctions on Iran and companies with ties to it, notably hitting Iran's vital oil sector and central bank.

Major international firms halt their activities and projects in Iran.

In May 2019, Washington ends sanctions exemptions for countries buying Iranian crude oil.

- Iran starts walk-back -

Iran that month announces its first step back from the deal, seeking to pressure European signatories to help it circumvent the sanctions.

Trump then sanctions Iran's steel and mining sectors.

In July, Tehran says it has exceeded the accord's restrictions on its enriched uranium reserves and uranium enrichment level.

- More steps -

In September 2019, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) watchdog says Iran has started using advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium.

In November, Tehran says its enrichment increased tenfold and that it has developed two new advanced centrifuges.

It then resumes enrichment at its Fordo plant in its fourth walk-back and says its heavy water reserves have passed the accord's limit.

- More centrifuges -

Tensions between Washington and Tehran spiral after a January 2020 US drone strike kills top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, sparking a tit-for-tat confrontation.

Iran announces its fifth step back in January, foregoing a limit on its number of centrifuges.

- Iranian demands -

In February, Iran demands significant economic advantages from Europe in return for cancelling all, or part, of its rollback measures.

In March, European signatories say they have delivered medical goods to Iran, in the first transaction under a mechanism established to bypass the US sanctions.

On November 27, one of Iran's top nuclear scientists Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is killed near Tehran in an attack on his convoy that Iran blames on Israel.

- New breach -

With Trump in his last days in the White House and tensions between the two countries spiralling, Tehran deals the accord a further blow on January 4, 2021 by saying it has started enriching uranium at Fordo.

In a fresh breach of the deal's limits, the IAEA in February says Iran has started producing uranium metal, which can be used as a component in nuclear weapons.

Iran and the IAEA on February 21 announce a "temporary solution" to allow Iranian facility inspections, giving breathing space for diplomatic negotiation.

Two days later, the IAEA says it is "deeply concerned" by the possible presence of nuclear material at an undeclared site in Iran, as Iran begins to restrict some site inspections by the IAEA in response to the US refusal to lift sanctions.

- Enrichment up to 60 percent -

On April 7, talks on rescuing the accord start in Vienna, the United States invited indirectly for the first time since the arrival at the White House of Joe Biden, who has said he is ready to reintegrate the accord.

Tehran announces on April 10 it has started up or is testing hundreds of advanced centrifuges at its Natanz uranium enrichment plant.

On April 12 it accuses Israel on being behind an attack on its Natanz plant.

The next day it says it will start enriching uranium up to 60 percent, state media reported.

Related Links
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After Natanz blast, Iran vows to ramp up uranium enrichment
Tehran (AFP) April 13, 2021
Iran warned Tuesday it would start enriching uranium up to 60 percent purity, two days after an explosion it blamed on arch-enemy Israel hit its key nuclear facility in Natanz. The announcement cast a shadow over ongoing talks in Vienna aimed at salvaging the tattered 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that former US president Donald Trump abandoned three years ago. Iran said it wrote to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency to announce "that Iran will start 60 percent enrichm ... read more