Iran poured scorn on threatened U.S. sanctions on Tuesday and told European powers to step up and salvage the 2015 international nuclear deal, although Germany signaled there is only so much it can do to fend off the U.S.'s economic clout.
Senior Iranian military and political figures queued up to issue defiant statements, a day after Washington threatened "the strongest sanctions in history" if Iran fails to make a series of sweeping changes.
On Monday, two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the nuclear pact, his administration told Iran to drop its nuclear program and pull out of the Syrian civil war, among other demands, setting Washington and Tehran further on a course of confrontation.
"The people of Iran should stand united in the face of this and they will deliver a strong punch to the mouth of the American secretary of state and anyone who backs them," Gen. Ismail Kowsari, a senior commander with Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the Iranian Labour News Agency.
The 2015 nuclear agreement, worked out between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China, lifted sanctions in exchange for Iran limiting its atomic program.
Trump called it the worst deal ever negotiated, but European powers see it as the best chance to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.
After Trump pulled out, the other signatories said they would try to salvage the deal and keep Iran's oil trade and investment flowing. But European companies say they are worried about getting caught up in the new sanctions, given the U.S.'s global reach, and some have already started pulling out.
The head of Iran's National Security and Foreign Policy parliamentary committee said the only way to salvage the nuclear deal would be for the European signatories to stand up to the United States.
"Today they must show their strength in the face of American pressure," Alaeddin Borujerdi said, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Monday told reporters in Argentina he would travel from there to Washington to discuss the nuclear deal with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He gave no date for his meeting.
German Economic Affairs Minister Peter Altmaier earlier told the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper that the government would help German firms with business in Iran where it could, but it could not entirely shield them from the U.S. decision to quit the Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions.
Asked how the German government can assist German firms, he said it would help them assess the situation and developments while also urging the U.S. to grant exemptions and extend deadlines.
"We will help where we can, but there is no way of completely averting the consequences of this unilateral withdrawal," he said.
His statement was echoed by Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, who said there are limits to the European Union's powers to persuade larger firms to stay in Iran in the face of threatened U.S. sanctions.
"We know there are hardly any larger companies in Europe that do not also trade with the United States. The pressure on European companies from the U.S. is quite large," Asselborn told reporters in Brussels.
"We are in the situation that we're in. I believe we should not give up, we should try until the end, to show, with our heads held high, that we are right and Mr. Trump is wrong."
French President Emmanuel Macron last week acknowledged the dilemma faced by firms choosing between trading with the biggest economy in the world, the United States, and risking sanctions and massive fines by trading with Iran.
