Iran is determined to "leave all doors open" to save the 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, President Hassan Rouhani told French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, according to Reuters.
"We are determined to leave all doors open to save the nuclear deal ... The Europeans should accelerate their efforts to salvage the pact," Rouhani was quoted as having told Macron in a telephone conversation.
US President Donald Trump withdrew last May from the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, and later imposed two rounds of sanctions on Iran, the latest of which went into effect in November of 2018.
The European signatories to the 2015 deal did not agree with Trump’s decision to leave the agreement and vowed to help Iran evade the economic sanctions imposed by the US, shielding companies doing business with the rogue state in an effort to preserve the Iran nuclear deal.
Several weeks ago, Iran met in Vienna with European, Russian and Chinese officials to discuss ways to save the 2015 nuclear following the US withdrawal.
Iran’s envoy to the meeting in Vienna said that European countries had offered too little to persuade Tehran to back off from its plans to breach limits imposed by the deal.
The EU earlier this year introduced a trade mechanism that would bypass US sanctions on Iran, in a bid to save the 2015 deal, but Iran has rejected that mechanism thus far.