The comments come at a time of heightened friction between Iran and the West, with Tehran breaching the deal's restrictions step by step in response to Washington's withdrawal from the deal and renewed sanctions.

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"Every two months, there is another dent [in the deal by Iran] to the point where today we ask ourselves, and I'm saying this very clearly, about the implementation of the dispute resolution mechanism that exists in the deal," Jean-Yves Le Drian told a parliamentary hearing.

Britain, France and Germany have sought to salvage the pact, under which Iran undertook to curtail its uranium enrichment program in return for relief from sanctions crippling its economy since the United States withdrew last year.

But the three European powers have failed to make good on the trade and investment dividends promised to Iran under the deal as they have been unable to shield Tehran from renewed US sanctions that have strangled its vital oil trade.

That has prompted Iran to renege step by step from its non-proliferation commitments under the deal. Until now the European powers have opted to hold back on triggering the mechanism, fearing it could further impede diplomatic efforts, notably by France, to defuse tensions.

The remaining parties to the deal meet in Vienna on Dec. 6 to discuss how to move forward.

The mechanism involves a party referring a dispute to a Joint Commission comprising Iran, Russia, China, the three European powers, and the European Union and then on to the UN Security Council if that commission cannot resolve it.

If the Security Council does not vote within 30 days to continue sanctions relief, sanctions in place under previous UN resolutions would be reimposed - known as a "snapback."

"We have tried several initiatives that are going backward [because] we have French [citizens] imprisoned (in [Iran], we've established that regional attacks, notably on Saudi Arabia, from the Iranian authorities, have been carried out," he said.

The magnitude of recent protests in Iran and the authorities' response also hampered efforts to persuade the United States to de-escalate the standoff, Le Drian said.

"It seems to prove them [the US] right in their logic of maximum pressure, given the behavior of the Supreme Leader and President [Hassan] Rouhani toward the protesters."

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The Trump administration, which last year pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and re-imposed sanctions on Iran, will let the work go forward by issuing waivers to sanctions that bar non-US firms from dealing with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the sources on condition of anonymity.

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While the waivers' renewal would allow non-proliferation work to continue at the Arak heavy water research reactor and the Fordow fuel enrichment plant, which the AEOI monitors, it may also signal that Washington is leaving the door open to diplomacy.

Under the 2015 deal between Iran and six world powers – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States –Tehran agreed to limit its nuclear program in return for the lifting of economic sanctions that had crippled its economy.

When US President Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the deal in May 2018, he re-imposed US sanctions in a "maximum pressure" campaign designed to force Iran to return to the negotiating table.

Trump wants a broader deal that would also limit Iran's missile program as well as its regional activities; Iran has demanded that the United States first resume complying with the 2015 deal called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

France, in particular, has sought to bring the two into a wider dialogue but has so far failed, suggesting neither is yet willing to abandon core elements of policy: the US belief that pressure will bring Iran to its knees, and Iran's refusal to capitulate to US pressure.

Under the 2015 deal, the Arak reactor was to be redesigned to render it unable to make bomb-grade plutonium under normal operation, while the Fordow plant was to stop enriching uranium and be converted into a nuclear, physics and technology center.

Chinese state-owned China National Nuclear Corp has done non-proliferation work at Arak, and Russia's Rosatom has done it at Fordow. Rosatom has also provided uranium fuel for Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant.

The US State Department had no immediate comment. Rosatom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A China National Nuclear Corp spokesman told Reuters on Thursday by email that it was "starting to cooperate with the Iranian side under guidance from Beijing on seeking a positive solution to the Iran nuclear problem." It did not provide further details.

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