Iran would resist US plot

German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday pushed back against Washington's rejection of the Iran nuclear deal, saying the accord helped outside powers worried about Tehran's regional role to pursue their concerns with the Islamic Republic.

Iran reiterated it would not surrender to US pressure and would resist US "plots", following President Donald Trump's abandonment of the 2015 agreement last week.

Repudiating the result of more than a decade of diplomacy, Trump complained that the deal does not cover Iran's ballistic missiles, its role in regional wars or what happens after the pact begins to expire in 2025.

Major European countries share Trump's concerns but argue that the nuclear deal is the best way to stop the increasingly influential regional power from obtaining an atomic weapon.

Merkel reasserted a defence of the deal in remarks to lawmakers in the Bundestag lower house of parliament.

"This agreement is everything other than ideal, but Iran is, according to all the knowledge of the international nuclear authorities, sticking to the commitments of the agreement," she said.

Iran meanwhile said the new US sanctions were an attempt to derail efforts to save the deal.

"With such destructive measures, the American government is trying to influence the will and decision of the remaining signatories of the JCPOA (nuclear agreement)," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Trump expected Tehran to leave the deal after the US withdrawal, but Tehran had refused to follow that plan by trying to save the deal with its remaining signatories.

"Trump played his first card, but miscalculated the second move," Rouhani was quoted as saying by the ISNA agency. He also said Iran would not surrender to US pressures.b