Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on July 31 said it was up to Europe to salvage the landmark nuclear deal with Tehran.

“After the US’ illegal withdrawal from the nuclear deal, the ball is in Europe’s court now,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by his official website after he met the new British Ambassador to Tehran Rob Macaire.

Rouhani also made another statement that pointed to the prospect of Iran attempting to hinder energy exports from the Persian Gulf by blocking the Strait of Hormuz if the US does not cease with its attempt at closing down most export markets for Iranian oil by the end of this year.

“The Islamic Republic has never sought tension in the region and does not want any trouble in global waterways, but it will not easily give up on its rights to export oil,” Rouhani said.

After US President Donald Trump in early May unilaterally pulled the US out of the late 2015 multilateral nuclear accord between Iran and six major powers, insisting that a new deal is needed with Tehran to prevent it from destabilising the Middle East, the other signatories—the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China—said they would attempt to save the pact. Europe is spearheading efforts to keep the deal afloat, although in that challenge there also other crux issues such as whether China, India and Turkey will remain defiant in the face of US sanctions pressure and continue to import major volumes of Iranian oil.

To date, the EU has come up with little to indicate that the nuclear deal is in fact salvageable—announced efforts have so far included some trade financing for small and medium sized companies arranged through Austria that may be shielded from sanctions—but European officials have indicated that they should be ready to announce more initiatives after the summer.

Trump said on July 30 that he would be willing to meet Iran’s leaders without preconditions to discuss how to improve relations, but US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was soon after giving interviews outlining how there would in fact be preconditions.

‘No value in talking to Trump’
Subsequently, Iranian officials were quick to respond that they saw no value in talking to Trump, mocked as a “gambler” whose language “belongs to nightclubs” by a senior Iranian military commander on July 26.

“Based on our bad experiences in negotiations with America and based on the US officials’ violation of their commitments, it is natural that we see no value in Trump’s proposal,” the head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations Kamal Kharazi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency on July 31

The same news agency quoted the Iranian interior minister Abdolreza Rahmani as saying: “The United States is not trustworthy. How can we trust this country when it withdraws unilaterally from the nuclear deal?”

Iranian state news agency IRNA cited deputy parliament speaker Ali Motahari as saying that the US pullout from the nuclear accord meant that "negotiation with the Americans would be a humiliation now."

"If Trump had not withdrawn from the nuclear deal and had not imposed sanctions on Iran, there would be no problem with negotiations with America," Motahari added.

Garrett Marquis, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, underlined that the US would not be lifting any sanctions or reestablishing diplomatic and commercial relations until "there are tangible, demonstrated, and sustained shifts in Tehran's policies". "The sting of sanctions will only grow more painful if the regime does not change course," Marquis said.