The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said Iran had produced 50 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium, Iranian state broadcaster Press TV reported on Saturday.

The 20 percent uranium enrichment process has been launched as part of Iran's Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions, which was approved by the Iranian parliament in December 2020.

According to the parliament's bill, the AEOI should produce 120 kg of 20 percent enriched uranium within a year after the implementation of the action plan which began on January 4, said Ali-Akbar Salehi, head of AEOI.

Iranian authorities have said a boost in uranium enrichment, along with other measures to reduce some commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is a reaction to the U.S. withdrawal from the deal and the failure of European signatories to protect Iran's interests amid U.S. energy and banking sanctions.

The photo, released on November 5, 2019, by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, shows centrifuge machines in the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran. /AP

If there is an agreement and America returns to the JCPOA and Iran verifies that, Tehran can instantly stop 20 percent enrichment and other expansions, Salehi noted.

Officials from Iran and the United States are expected to have indirect discussions at a meeting in Vienna on coming Tuesday in a bid to revive the 2015 deal.

The talks were announced after a meeting on Friday of the remaining signatories to the accord – the EU, Germany, France, the UK, Russia, China and Iran.

(CGTN)