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TEHRAN—Iran said Monday it has resumed enriching uranium to 20% purity, a significant breach of the 2015 nuclear deal that slashes the time it would take for Tehran to produce the grade of fuel needed for a nuclear weapon.

The enrichment level is higher than at any point since the deal was signed, and crosses a red line set previously by European countries that remained committed to the agreement after the Trump administration withdrew from it in 2018.

The breach threatens to complicate a planned effort by the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden to revive the deal, which placed limits on Tehran’s nuclear program, and raises tensions in the Middle East when the region is already on edge.

Tehran has vowed to avenge the killings of a top Iranian nuclear scientist in November and a senior Iranian general, who died in a U.S. drone strike last January. The strike followed a year of spiraling hostilities in the region that included explosions on oil tankers and an attack on key Saudi oil facilities that the U.S. blamed on Iran.

Iranian forces also seized a South Korea-flagged ship on Monday, according to a semiofficial Iranian news agency, further heightening tensions with a U.S. ally. Forces boarded the vessel because it was creating unspecified pollution in the Persian Gulf, the agency said. The vessel’s owner, DM Shipping of Busan, South Korea, didn’t respond to calls.