Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has blamed the United States for abandoning the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying the future of the deal entirely depends on the United States.

The two countries have been in a standoff since Washington unilaterally withdrew from the deal last year.

Zarif said before concluding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with world powers, the U.S., UK, France, China, Russia and Germany, Iran had months of talks with the highest level of U.S. officials and has been fully compliant with the deal since then, holding meetings with other signatory countries once every three months.

But the U.S. decided to withdraw from the deal in 2018. Now, the future of the deal is up to the United States, he said.

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Zarif made the comments in a recent interview with China Central Television (CCTV) during his visit to Beijing over the weekend. He talked with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday.

During the meeting, Wang reiterated China's support of Iran, saying Iran's compliance with the JCPOA should be paid off.

Zarif's visit to Beijing followed by his unexpected trip to the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, where he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron. The unannounced visit appeared to be an attempt by the EU to break a diplomatic deadlock between the U.S. and Iran after Washington's unilateral withdrawal.  

EU tries to salvage the JCPOA 

Zarif said President Macron initiated his four-hour stop in France and the two sides had a "good conversation" on the future of the JCPOA.

"We did discuss the possibilities, and the focus of our conservation has been how the Europeans could fulfill their commitment under the JCPOA so that Iran could go back to full compliance," Zarif told CCTV, underscoring that both Iran and the EU were trying to bring the U.S. back to the nuclear deal.

He added that it was "unfortunate" that the Trump administration had decided not to normalize economic relations with Iran but rather started to engage in "economic terrorism" against Iran.

"Unfortunately, President Trump has made his number one priority to prevent the normalization of economic relations with Iran, to engage in economic terrorism against Iranian people, to engage in what he calls an 'economic war' with Iranian people," he said. "So, we have two options. One is for President Trump to abandon his approach, and we are focusing mostly on the second, what President Macron also wanted – the possibility of bringing the United States back into compliance." 

Zarif said Iran "informed" Macron of its requirements, that is, for "the United States to stop harassing other countries from engaging normal economic relations with Iran."

A possible meeting between Trump and Rouhani? 

When asked about Trump's proposal of a possible meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Zarif said the U.S. knows what to do to start talks – be a member of the JCPOA.

"We never left the meeting of the negotiation room. Based on JCPOA, we had a meeting with other members of the JCPOA every three months, and the United States was present at those meetings until April 2018," the foreign minister said. "They decided in May 2018 to leave the negotiations table, and they know what is the ticket to be back on the negotiations table."

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"It's up to the United States," he said.

Underscoring that Iran would not withdraw from the nuclear deal, Zahir said the next phase will commence on September 6 when Iran will take further steps to reduce its commitment to the JCPOA. 

"This agreement was negotiated based on mutual mistrust, particularly between Iran and the United States, and that is why we put in place in the agreement mechanism to address violations and remedies that each side could adopt in case of violations by the other side. And one of those remedies for Iran is to reduce its commitments, and that is exactly what we did," Zarif explained. 

"We waited for 15 months after the U.S. withdrew from the deal, and after almost no economic benefits from the deal was available to the Iranian people. But we gave Europe 12 months and then three months before the first step had effect before we took action. And those actions are within JCPOA. They do not mean withdrawing from JCPOA."

Facing economic threats, Zarif said he's very confident on Iran's economy because Iran has never relied on the outside world for its development.

China-Iran relations

Speaking of the China-Iran relationship, the foreign minister applauded China's remarkable achievements in the past 70 years and said Iran hopes to further explore opportunities under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Tehran sees the BRI as an important and strategic option for the international community to build peace and mutual benefits, but the cooperation should not undermine one's independence and sovereignty, Zarif said.

"We consider that (Belt and Road Initiative) to be an important and strategic option for the international community to engage in a peaceful and mutually beneficial relationship. That's our plan and course of action," he said.