Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Sunday that European countries have failed to present an action plan following fresh US sanctions on Tehran.
“The Europeans have so far expressed their stance, but have failed to present an action plan ... We believe that Europe is not ready yet to pay a price," Zarif was quoted as saying by the Young Journalists Club (YJC) website.
He said European governments had put forward proposals to maintain oil and banking ties with Iran after the second phase of US sanctions return in November.
But he told the website that these measures were more "a statement of their position than practical measures".
US President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal in May, and began reimposing sanctions earlier this month that block other countries from trading with Iran.
A second phase of sanctions targeting Iran's crucial oil industry and banking relations will return on November 5.
Europe has vowed to keep providing Iran with the economic benefits it received from the nuclear deal, but many of its bigger companies have already pulled out of the country for fear of US penalties.
Zarif also tweeted on Sunday that the formation of a new Iran "Action Group" in the US State Department to coordinate Trump's pressure campaign against Iran aimed to overthrow the country, but it would fail.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday named senior policy adviser Brian Hook as special representative for Iran in charge of the Iran Action Group to coordinate Trump's pressure campaign against the country.
Zarif tweeted that "65 years ago today, the US overthrew the popularly elected democratic government of Dr. Mossadegh, restoring the dictatorship & subjugating Iranians for the next 25 years. Now an “Action Group” dreams of doing the same through pressure, misinformation & demagoguery. Never again."
In 1953, the United States helped orchestrate the overthrow of freely elected nationalist Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, restoring to power Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. The shah was toppled in Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Also Sunday, Iran's vice president Eshaq Jahangiri said the government was seeking solutions to sell oil and transfer its revenues despite fresh US sanctions.
"We are hopeful that the European countries can meet their commitments but even if they cannot, we are seeking solutions to sell our oil and transfer its revenues," Jahangiri was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.
