Iran pushes diplomacy

• Too early to predict sanctions impact on Iran imports: India

• Sri Lanka president visits Iran for oil trade deals

• UN nuclear watchdog's chief  inspector resigns

Iran's foreign minister embarks on a tour of world powers yesterday, state media reported, in what is seen as a last-ditch effort to save Tehran's nuclear deal after Washington's withdrawal from the accord.

President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal on Tuesday, raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East, upsetting European allies and casting uncertainty over global oil supplies.

Iran said it would remain committed to the deal without Washington if Tehran achieved its goals - namely being protected from sanctions against key sectors of its economy such as oil - in cooperation with other countries that have signed up to the agreement.

Zarif was due to leave for Beijing yesterday and will later travel to Russia. He will then go to Brussels to meet counterparts from Germany, Britain and France "about the fate of the nuclear deal", Iranian state television said.

"Iran has asked the European Union and particularly Germany, France and Britain to announce as soon as possible their stand on how Iran's interests can be fulfilled and guaranteed under the nuclear agreement after America's withdrawal," the TV report said.

India's oil minister yesterday expressed concern about the rise oil prices but said it was too early to predict the impact of US sanctions on his country's imports of Iranian oil after Washington withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal.

"This kind of geopolitical (tension) affects both consuming and producing countries. We have to live with the reality of the present geopolitics," Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told Reuters during a visit to the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena left on a two-day visit to Iran to improve trade relations and secure investment from the Islamic republic, his office said.

Sirisena will hold talks with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on strengthening cooperation in the energy sector and will also seek Iranian investment, according to an official statement.

In Vienna, the chief inspector of the UN's nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resigned Friday, a spokesperson for the agency said.

No reason was given for Tero Varjoranta's sudden departure, which comes days after Trump took the US out of the deal between Iran and world powers over its nuclear programme.

The IAEA conducts inspections in Iran to verify compliance with the terms of the deal. It says Iran is complying with its commitments.