US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Saturday he was "not surprised"
Iran had turned on advanced centrifuges to increase uranium stockpiles, a further breach of the 2015
nuclear deal which
Washington pulled out of last year.
"I'm not surprised that Iran has announced that it's going to violate the JCPOA," Esper said in
Paris, using the official name of the accord signed in Vienna four years ago.
"They had been violating it, they had violated the nuclear non-proliferation treaty for many years, so it's no surprise that the Iranians are going to pursue what the Iranians have always intended to pursue," he added, following talks with his French counterpart Florence Parly.