Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Tuesday that Iran would continue to reduce its commitments under the nuclear deal, accusing European partners of not fulfilling their obligations.

The United States pulled out from an international deal aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program last year then hit Tehran with crippling sanctions. 

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"According to our foreign minister, Europe made 11 commitments, none of which they abided by. We abided by our commitments and even beyond them. Now that we've begun to reduce our commitments, they oppose it. How insolent! You didn't abide by your commitments!" Khamenei said, according to his website.

"You did not carry out a single one (of your commitments), why do you want us to stick to our commitments?" Khamenei said, criticizing European countries which are party to the deal.

"We have just started to decrease our commitments (in the deal) and this process will certainly continue," he said in a speech in Tehran partly aired on state television.

Tensions have since soared, with the U.S. calling off air strikes against Iran at the last minute after Tehran downed an American drone and Washington blaming the Islamic republic for a series of attacks on tanker ships. 

Earlier on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that the United States is "playing with fire," echoing remarks by President Donald Trump. The two sides are locked in a standoff over Tehran's nuclear program. 

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"I think the United States is playing with fire," Zarif told NBC News. 

Iran announced last week that it had enriched uranium past the 3.67 percent limit set by the nuclear deal and has also surpassed the 300 kg cap on enriched uranium reserves. 

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But "it can be reversed within hours," Zarif told the network, adding, "We are not about to develop nuclear weapons. Had we wanted to develop nuclear weapons, we would have been able to do it (a) long time ago." 

Zarif's comments came as the United States imposed unusually harsh restrictions on his movements during a visit to the United Nations. 

Weeks after the United States threatened sanctions against Zarif, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington issued him a visa but forbade him from moving beyond six blocks of Iran's UN mission in Midtown Manhattan. 

"U.S. diplomats don't roam around Tehran, so we don't see any reason for Iranian diplomats to roam freely around New York City, either," Pompeo told The Washington Post.

(With input from Reuters, AFP.)

(Cover: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (L) and President Hassan Rouhani attend a government meeting in the capital Tehran, Iran, May 14, 2019. /VCG Photo)