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Iran on Tuesday warned that it could rev up its nuclear program if the US continues threats and sanctions against the country and threatened to bail on the nuke deal it cut with world powers in 2015.

In an hour and a day, Iran could return to a more advanced [nuclear] level than at the beginning of the negotiations, President Hassan Rouhani told lawmakers, adding that Irans preference was to remain in the accord.

His remarks were his most direct warning yet that the deal could fall apart, and risked ratcheting up tensions with the US and President Trump.

The president had repeatedly denounced the deal, and said just last week that he believed Iran was in violation of its terms, which limited Irans ability to produce a nuclear weapon while ending most sanctions against it.

Earlier this week, Irans parliament voted to increase spending on the countrys ballistic missile program and the foreign operations of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

The move came in response to US legislation passed earlier this month imposing mandatory penalties on people involved in Irans ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them.

The legislation also applies terrorism sanctions to the Guard and enforces an existing arms embargo.

The maneuvering around the Iran deal comes at a time when tensions have skyrocketed between the US and North Korea, which has tested nuclear weapons and threatened in recent weeks to fire a ballistic missile into the waters off the US territory of Guam.

The agreement between Iran and world powers two years ago capped Irans uranium enrichment levels in return for the lifting of international sanctions.

The US and other world powers fear Iran seeks the ability to produce atomic weapons.

Iran has long denied that it seeks nuclear arms and says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.

It was not immediately clear what Rouhani was referring to and whether he meant Iran could restart centrifuges enriching uranium to higher and more dangerous levels.

In December, Rouhani ordered up plans to build nuclear-powered ships, something that appears to be allowed under the nuclear deal.

Rouhanis remarks were likely an attempt to appease hard-liners at home who have demanded a tougher stand against the US.

But they are also expected to ratchet up tensions further with the Trump administration.

Iran has said the new sanctions amount to a hostile breach of the 2015 nuclear deal.

The US has shown that it is neither a good partner nor a trustable negotiator, Rouhani added.

Those who are trying to go back to the language of threats and sanctions are prisoners of their past hallucinations. They deprive themselves of the advantages of peace.

But Rouhani also tempered his own threat, adding that Iran seeks to remain loyal to its commitments under the nuclear deal, which opened a path of cooperation and confidence-building with the world.

The deal was a model of the victory of peace and diplomacy over war and unilateralism, said Rouhani. It was Irans preference, but it was not and will not remain Irans only option.

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Iran threatens to rev up nuclear program - New York Post