The United States "will surely regret it" if President Donald Trump pulls out of the nuclear deal with Iran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday.
Iran's response would be stronger than the U.S. imagines and would come "within a week," Rouhani said.
Trump has effectively set May 12 as a deadline for European powers to "fix the terrible flaws" of the 2015 deal, with U.S. sanctions that were lifted under the deal set to resume then unless Trump waives them.
"The new U.S. president, who has big claims and many ups and downs in his words and actions, has been trying for 15 months to break the JCPOA [the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the proper name of the 2015 deal] ... but the structure of the JCPOA is so strong that it has not been shaken by such quakes," Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state television.
"Iran will not violate the nuclear deal, but if the United States withdraws from the deal, they will surely regret it. Our response will be stronger than what they imagine and they would see that within a week."
Iran has warned that it would ramp up its nuclear program if the JCPOA collapses to an even more advanced level than before the deal.
Rouhani was speaking as Iran marked National Nuclear Technology Day and unveiled its latest nuclear achievements, including a nuclear battery and centrifuges for the oil industry.
Rouhani said Iran has been preparing for every possible scenario, including a nuclear deal without the United States – which would still include European signatories, China and Russia – or no deal at all.
France, Britain and Germany are seeking to persuade their European partners to back new sanctions on Iran in an effort to persuade Trump to stick with the nuclear deal.
Those sanctions would not involve measures that were lifted under the deal but would target individual Iranians that the European Union believes are behind Iran's ballistic weapons program and its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Rouhani said on Monday that Iran's missile capabilities are purely defensive.
"We will produce any weapons necessary to defend our country in such a volatile region. But we will not use our weapons against our neighbors," Rouhani said.
Meanwhile, the Iranian currency, the rial, hit a new low on Monday in the wake of the continuing concerns over a return of crippling sanctions if Trump carries out his threat.
The U.S. dollar jumped from 54,700 rials to 58,000 rials in one day in the Tehran market, local media reported. In September, a dollar was worth 36,000 rials.
