The winner will take over in August as Iran's eighth president from incumbent Hassan Rouhani a moderate who has served the maximum of two consecutive four-year terms whose key achievement was the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers
The winner will take over in August as Iran's eighth president from incumbent Hassan Rouhani a moderate who has served the maximum of two consecutive four-year terms whose key achievement was the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that the country is capable of enriching uranium up to 90% purity, which is weapons-grade.

Despite the comments, Rouhani said he hopes to revive the 2015 Iran Deal signed by the Obama administration.

Iran’s biggest obstacle in building nuclear weapons is obtaining enough highly enriched uranium in order to construct the bomb’s core. Iran has not yet tried to create nuclear weapons.

“Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization can enrich uranium up to 20% and 60%, if one day our reactors needed it, it can reach up to 90% purity,” Rouhani said.

Rejoining the Iran Deal has been President Biden’s biggest foreign policy campaign promise after Donald Trump has increased tensions with Iran after violating the deal by imposing sanctions on the Iranian government, and eventually withdrawing from it.

Rouhani has criticized his government for not allowing him to rejoin the deal before President-elect Ebrahim Raisi takes office on Aug. 5. Rouhani says he “deeply regrets” missing the opportunity.

Ebrahim has been described as a “hardliner” and will demand more concessions out of the Biden administration if a new deal is to be reached.

Among Rasi's biggest demands is for the U.S. to drop sanctions imposed by the Trump administration. He has also called Iran’s missile program “non-negotiable.”

The sixth round of negotiations between the two countries concluded on June 20. The next round has yet to be scheduled.

Some Iranian officials have said that the two sides are making progress.