Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that the country could abandon the nuclear deal with major powers if the accord does not show enough benefits.

Khamenei’s official website quoted him as saying that the Islamic Republic should "give up hope" of European powers salvaging the nuclear agreement. Since Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the multilateral pact in early May, Iran and the other signatories—the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China—have set out to salvage it. But the efforts of London, Paris and Berlin have, in particular, underwhelmed the Iranians who, in just over a month on November 5, will face a second salvo of heavy sanctions from Washington. Crucially, those sanctions will target Iran’s lifeline oil exports.

The US is mounting an unprecedented economic attack on Iran, determined to strangle its economy to the point that Tehran will be forced to enter talks that Washington and Israel intend to use to constrain its standing, activities and influence in the conflict-torn Middle East. In such negotiations, the US would almost certainly demand far more than a further curtailing of Iran’s nuclear programme, a stance that would also be welcomed by American ally and regional arch-rival to Iran, Saudi Arabia.

Working with the ‘West minus Trump’ to maintain the nuclear deal and survive the sanctions is one strategy Tehran could still pursue—but as evidenced by Iran’s August 20 ‘get a move on’ call to Europe to step up their efforts to deliver credible measures in that direction, dissatisfaction in Iran over the level of help it is getting from the EU powers may be reaching a critical point. Added to that, the warnings that the sanctions campaign is set to tip Iran back into recession are growing louder.

“A means not the goal”
“The nuclear accord is a means, not the goal, and if we come to this conclusion that it does not serve our national interests, we can abandon it,” Khamenei said in a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and his cabinet, according to local media outlets.

The first set of US sanctions, which were introduced in early August, target Iran's auto industry, trade in gold and other precious metals, issuance of sovereign debt, purchases of US dollars and other global trade. The second set of sanctions will be aimed at Iran's banking sector and oil industry, with Washington demanding that all countries stop importing Iranian crude oil.

Trump has suggested that he would be prepared to meet Iran’s leaders face to face to negotiate, but in his remarks Khamenei reiterated that Tehran will not enter into talks with "indecent" US officials at any level to strike a new nuclear deal-style accord. Given the unilateralism shown by the US in walking out of an agreement between seven nations, which was painstakingly put together over several years, Iran has made plain its disgust at the American attitude to international affairs. Hardliners, who never wanted to enter the nuclear deal in the first place, now say that the US is never to be trusted again.

The supreme leader also called on the Iranian government to work "day and night" to resolve the country's growing economic difficulties. Rouhani on August 28 answered a summons from parliament to explain shortcomings blamed on him and his ministers.

The Iranian rial has lost more than half its value against the dollar in recent months, some external reports claim inflation has risen past 200% and many big foreign companies that were present in Iran, including European enterprises, have made for the exit. Most would have been clearly exposed to US secondary sanctions if they had stayed given connections to US financial markets, including capital raising activities, and assets.