"With the withdrawal of America, [Iran's] public expectations from the European Union have increased in order to maintain the deal's gains, and in the current context, the European political support for the accord is not sufficient," Mohammad Javad Zarif told Miguel Arias Canete in Tehran, cited by IRNA.

Several days earlier, ahead of talks with European counterparts in Brussels, the Iranian top diplomat stated that amid the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, Tehran wants guarantees of economic benefits from it. 

The stance has been repeatedly reemphasized by the country's officials: they insisted on the preservation of all stipulations of the agreement they signed, as well as all the economic benefits contained in the JCPOA.

When US President Donald Trump has announced his decision to leave the deal, he explained the move by some "flaws" in the document, which should be fixed. After Trump's ruling, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned nine Iranian individuals and entities including those with links to Iran's Revolutionary Guard. 

The move has been strongly criticized by other signatories of the agreement: Moscow, London, Beijing, Paris, Berlin and Brussels, who have confirmed their commitment to the deal.

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