Iran to ramp up nuclear development in defiance of US

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has ordered the removal of limits on nuclear research and development in the country just hours after US President Donald Trump said that he would be open to meeting the Iranian leader.

Speaking on Wednesday evening, Rouhani called for expansions in the field of research and development, centrifuges, different types of new centrifuges and "whatever is needed for enrichment".

Speaking on Iranian state television, Rouhani said: "I, as of now, announce the third step. The atomic energy organization (of Iran) is ordered to immediately start whatever is needed in the field of research and development, and abandon all the commitments that were in place regarding research and development."

This intensification of Iran's nuclear activity represents a further step away from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was designed to control and oversee the nation's development of nuclear power.

Washington abandoned the deal in May last year and Iran has since broken other commitments specified in the agreement relating to the purity of its enriched uranium and the size of its stockpile.

Just hours before Rouhani's speech, US President Trump had indicated that he would be open to meeting with Rouhani at the UN General Assembly in New York later in September, before adding that they would be able to solve Iran's inflation problems "in 24 hours".

But Tehran has previously rejected proposals to start talks with Washington unless the US lifted the sanctions it had imposed on Iran since abandoning the nuclear deal in 2018.

The US has been ramping up economic pressure on Iran, with new measures including sanctions from the US State Department on 16 entities and 10 individuals accused of smuggling oil to the Assad regime in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon.