Iran declared on Monday that it began enriching uranium up to 20 percent at its Fordo facility and seized a South Korean-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, amid escalating tensions in the Middle East around the anniversary of the killing of Iran’s former top general Qassem Soleimani. Iranian spokesman Ali Rabiei said that President Hassan Rouhani had given the order for the move at the Fordo facility. Iran’s parliament passed a bill in early December 2020, following the assassination of its top nuclear scientist. The bill was aimed to pressure Europe into lifting sanctions. The 20 percent enrichment is only a technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent. In the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Iran was only allowed to enrich uranium to 3.67 percent, and no enrichment would be permitted in the Fordo facility for 15 years. On May 8, 2018, President Donald Trump announced the United …