Manama, Bahrain: European efforts to persuade Iran to stick within the limits of the nuclear deal have been insufficient and the country will breach uranium stockpile limits "soon," Tehran's semiofficial Fars News Agency reported Saturday, a move that could further escalate tensions with the United States.

Iran has been threatening to surpass the limit of 300 kilograms of low-enriched uranium that the country is allowed to possess under the nuclear agreement, unless it receives the sanctions relief that the deal promised in return.

Iranian technicians work at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, in this 2010 image released by Iran. Credit:International Iran Photo Agency

Breaching the limit would be a symbolic move but would not put Iran significantly closer to building a nuclear weapon. The 300-kilogram limit of uranium enriched to 3.67 per cent is suitable for use in power plants but falls far short of the more than 90 per cent enriched uranium needed for fissile material in a nuclear bomb.

The move would come against the backdrop of knife-edge tensions in the region, with President Donald Trump last week saying he had been close to launching a strike on Iran after its forces shot down a US surveillance drone in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States has also accused Iran of using magnetic limpet mines to attack petrochemical tankers in the Gulf of Oman - which Tehran denies.