Iran says Europe "not ready" to save nuclear deal

Iranian Foreign Minister said that the Europeans do not seem ready to put investments into saving the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement, Press TV reported on Monday.

"The Europeans claim they were willing to maintain the Iranian nuclear deal, or the JCPOA, but we have not seen Europe yet to be ready for an investment," Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters upon arrival in New York.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. [File photo: IC]

Zarif arrived in New York on Sunday to attend a high-level UN meeting.

Announcements and words "are totally different from being ready to make the investments required to save that deal and the Europeans have not done that yet," Zarif was quoted as saying.

Following the U.S. exit from the Iranian nuclear deal in May 2018, the EU announced that it would do its utmost to help Iran gain benefits from the deal.

In January, EU announced the establishment of a payment channel, known as the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges, to secure trade with Iran and skirt U.S. anti-Iran sanctions. Iran says that EU's step has not been enough since it has not been implemented yet.

Since May 2019, Iran has dropped some of its commitments subject to the deal and has vowed to go further if its interests under the deal are not honored.