Ankara: European countries are powerless to salvage the nuclear deal with Iran after the United States' decision to pull out, the deputy head of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) was quoted on Thursday as saying.
"Europe cannot act independently over the nuclear deal," Brigadier General Hossein Salami said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency, after Britain, France and Germany said they remained committed to the deal.
"Iran's enemies are not seeking military confrontation. They want to pressure our country by economic isolation. Resistance is the only way to confront these enemies, not diplomacy," Salami was quoted as saying.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that Tehran would remain in the 2015 deal despite President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw, but added that he thought Europe had only a "limited opportunity" to preserve the pact.
On Wednesday Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, cast doubt on the ability of the European signatories to guarantee Tehran's interests, adding: "I do not trust these countries either."
Trump also said on Tuesday he would revive U.S. economic sanctions against Iran. These would penalise foreign firms doing business with Tehran and further undermine what he called "a horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made".