US Warns of More Sanctions Against Iran at Emergency UN Meeting

The United States threatened to levy even more economic sanctions on Iran if Tehran doesn't stop breaching the 2015 nuclear accord. The US confronted Iran at an emergency meeting at the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency, on Wednesday. 

The US accused Iran of extortion after violating the agreement for the second time. Iran said it is retaliating for the harsh economic sanctions that have been enforced by Washington. 

"The international community must hold Iran's regime accountable," the United States said in a statement to the UN.

Iran has breached two limits in the deal. The IAEA confirmed with CBN News that Iran exceeded the limit on its low-enriched uranium stockpile. Tehran is also now enriching uranium above 3.67% U-235.

Director General Yukiya Amano has informed the IAEA Board of Governors that Agency inspectors on 8 July verified that Iran is enriching uranium above the deal's 3.67% U-235 purity limit.

These breaches put even more pressure on European leaders to salvage the crumbling nuclear deal before Iran abandons it entirely.

Tehran says it is violating the deal in response to crippling economic sanctions enacted by the U.S. The Trump administration pulled out of the deal last year.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to take military action against Iran after it breached the 2015 nuclear deal for a second time.

Netanyahu stood in front of a F-35 stealth fighter and said Iran "ought to remember that these planes can reach every place in the Middle East, including Iran and certainly Syria."

Meanwhile,  United States says it is building a military coalition with its allies to monitor strategic waters in the Persian Gulf to challenge Iranian threats against commercial shipping.

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford told reporters on Tuesday that the Pentagon has developed a plan to safeguard shipping in the waters off of Iran and Yemen.

"We're getting ready now to move out," he said. "We have a pretty clear concept of what we want to do."

The US military's primary role in the project is to provide critical intelligence and surveillance information to its coalition partners as they patrol the gulf.

The coalition will focus on protecting the Strait of Hormuz, an important sea passageway that Iran has threatened to close in the past. The group will also conduct patrols in the Bab el Mandeb, a dangerous chokepoint connecting Africa to the Middle East,  and a strategic link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

The Military Times reports that the US decided to create the coalition after the Trump Administration said Iran was behind attacks on ships in the Gulf.