In this vein, and in order to avoid tarnishing the festive atmosphere or heaven forbid nip the nuclear deal in the bud, the British chose to conceal the incriminating information from the media about the bomb-making factories Hezbollah had built on Iran's behalf in the northwest of London. This evidence was hidden not only from the media but from members of parliament, some of whom, it isn't a secret, wouldn't have approved the deal.

London is just one of the global terrorist hubs Iran sought to establish at the height of negotiations over its nuclear program. The incriminating evidence provided by Israeli intelligence – and the arrests that followed – were reported on in the United States, Thailand, and Cyprus, but the story was buried in the United Kingdom. And in their desire to avoid making the Iranians angry, it also took the British more than three years, until February 2019, to publicly state that there is no difference between Hezbollah's military and political wings and to add the Lebanon-based group to its list of terrorist organizations.

What's sad about this story is that over these past four years the Europeans have not changed their approach to Tehran very much. Iran is straining under the economic sanctions imposed by the United States. The Iranian economy is crumbling. Its oil exports have plummeted from over one million barrels per day to less than 400,000. One US dollar is now worth around 50,000 rials, while inflation has skyrocketed to above 40%.

But instead of exploiting the situation to pressure Iran, Germany's foreign minister rushed to Tehran on Monday to urge the Iranians not to withdraw from the nuclear deal and to promise they would soon be able to use the mechanism crafted by the EU to bypass the American sanctions.

Iran's foreign minister reminded his German counterpart that Tehran's ultimatum for "solving the problem" created by the White House would expire in less than one month. In the meantime, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on Monday that Iran has started accelerating its uranium enrichment, although still to within the parameters of the nuclear deal.

At their joint press conference, the two foreign ministers failed to address the new ballistic missile unveiled by the Iranians this week or the Islamic republic's ballistic missile program, which continues to operate unabated. Nor any mention of Hezbollah, whose fighters, under Iranian orders, continue helping the Syrian army drop oil drums on the civilian population in Idlib; the rebels in Yemen, who are raining missiles on Saudi Arabia; or the pro-Iranian Shiite militias in Iraq, who are preparing to attack American forces stationed there if and when a conflict erupts between Iran and the US

The British in particular and the Europeans in general didn't need the information from Israel to understand that Hezbollah is the tip of Iran's terrorist spear, not just in the Middle East but across the globe. Anyone who wants to stop the Iranians must also handle their messenger.

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"Iran is the one that openly threatens, every day, to destroy the State of Israel. Iran continues to entrench itself militarily in Syria. And today, the IAEA reports that Iran is accelerating its nuclear program,"  Netanyahu added.

Recent weeks have seen U.S.-Iranian tensions sharply increase, a year after Washington ended its participation in the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, saying it paved the way for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.

The agreement, dating to the Obama administration, included the U.S., world powers and Iran, which ostensibly agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international financial sanctions.

Washington tightened sanctions from the start of May, ordering all countries and companies to halt all imports of Iranian oil or be banished from the global financial system. U.S. President Donald Trump said he would life the sanctions if Iran agreed to amend the nuclear deal and expand it significantly.

The U.S. has also begun discussing military confrontation, dispatching extra troops to the region to counter what it describes as Iranian threats.

Iran has responded with a threat to increase its enrichment of uranium, saying it was up to Europeans who still support the nuclear deal to save it by finding ways to ensure Tehran receives the economic benefits it was promised.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano, whose agency is responsible for monitoring Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal, said Iran was now producing more enriched uranium than before, but it was not clear when it might reach stockpile limits set in the pact.

Iran said last month it was still abiding by the deal but would quadruple its production of enriched uranium – a move that could take it out of compliance if stockpiles rise too far. It demanded European countries do more to shield it from sanctions.

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"America's decision that Iran's oil exports must reach zero is a wrong and mistaken decision, and we won't let this decision be executed and operational" Rouhani said.

"In future months, the Americans themselves will see that we will continue our oil exports," he said.

If the United States is able to stop one method for Iran to export oil, then it will find other ways, Rouhani said.

Oil prices hit their highest since November last week after Washington said all waivers for sanctions-hit Iranian oil would end this week, pressuring importers to stop buying from Tehran and further tightening global supply.

The United States demanded last Monday that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers that had allowed Iran's eight biggest customers, most of them in Asia, to continue importing limited volumes.

Ordinary Iranians are the ones who feel the pressure from U.S. sanctions, Rouhani said.

Meanwhile, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told Russian state news agency RIA on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia is ready to meet oil consumers' demand by replacing supplies from Iran after the United States ends waivers granted to buyers of Iranian crude.

Falih said that the global deal to coordinate oil production levels could be extended after June.

"We will look at [global oil] inventories – are they higher or lower than the normal level and we will adjust the production level accordingly. Based on what I see now … I am eager to say that there will be some kind of agreement," Falih told RIA.

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U.S. President Donald Trump eventually aims to halt Iranian oil exports and thereby choke off Tehran's main source of revenue. Washington is pressuring Iran to curtail its nuclear program and stop backing militant proxies across the Middle East.

The United States will likely renew waivers to sanctions for most countries buying Iranian crude, including the biggest buyers China and India, in exchange for pledges to cut combined imports to below 1 million bpd. That would be around 250,000 bpd below Iran's current exports of 1.25 million bpd.

"The goal right now is to reduce Iranian oil exports to under 1 million barrels per day," one of the sources said, adding the Trump administration was concerned that pressing for a complete shutdown of Iran's oil in the short-term would trigger a global oil price spike.

Washington may also deny waivers to some countries that have not bought Iranian crude recently, the sources said.

The U.S. reimposed sanctions in November after pulling out of a 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers. Those sanctions have already halved Iranian oil exports.

To give time to importers to find alternatives and prevent a jump in oil prices, the U.S. granted Iran's main oil buyers waivers to sanctions on the condition they buy less in the future. The waivers are due for renewal every six months.

"Zeroing out could prove difficult," one of the sources said, adding a price of around $65 a barrel for international benchmark Brent crude was "the high end of Trump's crude price comfort zone."

Brent crude settled at $67.55 a barrel on Wednesday.

Both sources said they were briefed by the Trump administration on the matter but were not authorized to speak publicly about it.

While the latest talks on waivers aimed for a reduction in exports, the sources said the administration remained committed to a complete halt in the future.

Brian Hook, the State Department's special representative on Iran, also said in remarks at an industry conference in Houston on Wednesday that Washington is pursuing its plan to bring Iranian crude exports to zero.

Trump "has made it very clear that we need to have a campaign of maximum economic pressure" on Iran, Hook said, "but he also doesn't want to shock oil markets."

A State Department energy bureau spokesperson declined to comment on new volume targets for importers but said U.S. officials were constantly assessing global oil markets to determine the way forward with Iran sanctions waivers.

"On the numbers part, we'll get an updated assessment as we get closer to the end of the 180-day period," of the first round of waivers that ends in May, the spokesperson said.

Washington in November provided waivers to eight economies that had reduced their purchases of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue buying it without incurring sanctions for six more months. They were China and India, along with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy and Greece.

All eight are in bilateral talks about the waivers, sources said.

The administration is considering denying extension requests made by Italy, Greece and Taiwan – in part because they have not made full use of their waivers so far, one of the sources said.

Greece and Italy were not buying any Iranian oil, Iran's oil minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying in February.

It is unclear whether the administration will be able to convince China, India and Turkey – all of whom depend heavily on Iranian oil and have criticized the U.S. sanctions on Iran – to reduce imports.

"India, China and Turkey – the three tough cases – will continue to negotiate with the administration and are likely to keep their waivers," one of the sources said.

Washington is pressuring allies Japan and South Korea to reduce purchases of Iranian crude, the source said.

The administration would likely struggle to cut Iran's exports much below 1 million bpd due mainly to strong demand from China, India and Turkey, said Amos Hochstein, who was in charge of Iran sanctions as the top U.S. energy diplomat under former President Barack Obama.

"Looking at the market right now it seems reasonable that Iranian exports will remain at the 800,000 to 1.1 million bpd average," said Hochstein, who talks with energy ministers from big oil consumers.

He said he expects China and India purchases alone to account for around 800,000 to 900,000 bpd.

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The United States has imposed sanctions on Iran, and U.S. officials say they aim to reduce Iran's oil exports to zero in a bid to curb the Islamic Republic's missile program and regional influence.

"America should know that we are selling our oil and will continue to sell our oil and they are not able to stop our oil exports," Rouhani said in a televised speech during a trip to the northern Iranian city of Shahroud.

"If one day they want to prevent the export of Iran's oil, then no oil will be exported from the Persian Gulf," he said.

Rouhani made similar comments in July.

Also in July, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, Ismail Kowsari, was quoted as saying that Tehran would block oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz if the United States banned Iranian oil sales.

Tensions have risen between Iran and the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a multilateral nuclear deal in May and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Rouhani said the United States would not succeed in cutting Iran's economic ties with the region and the world.

"The most hostile group in America, with relation to Iran, has taken power," Rouhani said, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. "Of course they never had a friendship with the people of Iran and we never trusted America or others 100%."

Earlier, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denied a report that said a European mechanism to set up an account to trade with Iran and beat the newly reimposed U.S. sanctions may not cover oil sales, the Iranian foreign ministry website reported.

"Based on the information we have, it's not so. Because if Iran's oil money is not deposited into the account, it's not clear that there would be any funds for trade, because oil is a major part of Iran's exports," Zarif said, according to the website.

"This appears to be propaganda aimed at discouraging people," Zarif added.

France and Germany are to take joint responsibility for the EU-Iran trade mechanism, Reuters reported.

But the agency quoted diplomats as saying that, with unrelenting U.S. threats of retribution for sanctions-busting, the goals of the nascent trade mechanism could be scaled back to encompass only less sensitive items such as humanitarian and food products.

Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said on Tuesday that U.S. sanctions were hitting vulnerable people in Iran.

"When [Americans] say their target is the Iranian government and there won't be pressure on the sick, the elderly and the weak in society, it's a lie," Jahangiri said, according to IRNA.

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By reimposing sanctions on OPEC's third biggest crude producer, Washington wants to force Tehran to drop its ballistic missile program, further curb its nuclear work and limit its support for proxy militias from Syria to Lebanon and Yemen.

"We will not yield to this pressure, which is part of the psychological war launched against Iran," Rouhani said in a speech in the city of Khoy, broadcast live on state television.

"They have failed to stop our oil exports. We will keep exporting it. ... Your regional policies have failed and you blame Iran for that failure from Afghanistan to Yemen and Syria," he added, to chants of "Death to America."

Rouhani said Washington lacked the necessary international support for its sanctions, and noted that it had granted temporary waivers to eight major buyers of Iranian oil.

"America is isolated now. Iran is supported by many countries. Except for the Zionist regime [Israel] and some countries in the region, no other country backs America's pressure on Iran," he said.

The European Union, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China, participants with the United States in the 2015 deal that lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, have been trying to find ways to circumvent the U.S. limitations.

In particular, the EU has been trying to establish a Special Purpose Vehicle for non-dollar trade with Iran. But this has not stopped foreign businesses ranging from oil companies and other entities from leaving Iran for fear of incurring U.S. penalties.

Iran has threatened to exit the deal if its economic benefits are not preserved, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi told a news conference that it remained "hopeful that the Europeans can save the deal."

The SPV was conceived as a clearing house that could be used to help match Iranian oil and gas exports against purchases of EU goods, circumventing U.S. sanctions, which are based on the global use of the dollar for oil trade.

The EU wanted to have the SPV set up by this month, but no country has offered to host it, six diplomats told Reuters last week.

"We expect EU to implement the SPV as soon as possible," Qassemi said. "Iran adheres to its commitments as long as other signatories honor theirs."

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Rouhani spoke after meeting with visiting Iraqi President Barham Salih, two weeks after the United States restored sanctions targeting Iran's oil industry as well as its banking and transportation sectors.

"Through bilateral efforts, we can raise this figure [for bilateral trade] to $20 billion in the near future," Rouhani said in comments broadcast live on state television.

"We held talks on trade in electricity, gas, petroleum products and activities ... in the field of oil exploration and extraction," Rouhani said.

Iraq is seeking U.S. approval to allow it to import Iranian gas for its power stations. Iraqi officials say they need more time to find an alternative source of gas than the 45-day waiver granted by the United States.

"It will be important to create free trade zones at our shared border and to connect the two countries' railways," Salih said.

"We will not forget your support for the Iraqi people in the fight against [Iraqi dictator] Saddam [Hussein]. Neither do we forget Iran's stand in the recent fight against terrorism," Salih, an Iraqi Kurd, added.

Salih later met Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who called for maintaining unity among ethnic and religious groups in Iraq and resisting foreign interference.

"The only way to counter plots [by Iraq's enemies] is by strengthening the unity of all Iraqi groups, including Kurds, Arabs, Shiites and Sunnis," Khamenei said, according to his website.

"Some governments in the region and outside of it hold a deep grudge against Islam ... and Iraq, and interfere in Iraq's internal affairs and they must be strongly resisted," he said.

Iran accuses the United States and regional rival Saudi Arabia of exploiting divisions among Shiite and Sunni Muslims. The U.S. and the Saudis denounce Iran as fueling conflicts in countries including Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

"We seek to boost cooperation [with Iran] at all levels ... in order to serve the interests of both countries," the ayatollah's website quoted Salih as saying.

Iran wields wide influence in neighboring Iraq, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards played a key role in training and arming the mainly Shiite militias that helped defeat Islamic State.

Iraq imports a large range of goods from Iran, including food, agricultural products, home appliances, air conditioners and car parts. Iranian imports to Iraq were worth about $6 billion in the year ending March 2018, or about 15 percent of Iraq's total imports for 2017.

Iraqi officials said last week that Iraq had agreed to sell foodstuffs to Iran in return for Iranian gas and energy supplies. Iranian trade officials denied that any food-for-gas scheme could be set up as Iran was a net exporter of food to Iraq.

"We have exported more than $6 billion to Iraq in the past seven months and we could import goods for that amount but not food items," Yahya Al-e Eshaq, head of the Iran-Iraq chamber of commerce, was quoted as saying by the ILNA news agency.

A spokesman for an association of Iranian gas and petrochemical exporters said Iraq wanted to pay for the gas imports in its currency, the dinar, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

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The restoration of sanctions is part of a wider effort by U.S. President Donald Trump to force Iran to curb its nuclear and missile programs as well as its support for proxy forces in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East.

"The sanctions have had no impact on our economy because America had already used all the weapons at its disposal and there is nothing new to use against us," Rouhani said in remarks carried live on state television.

"They just issued a long list of banks, their branches ... and airlines and their planes. And this shows that they are merely trying to affect the Iranian nation psychologically," Rouhani said.

The United States said it would temporarily allow eight importers to keep buying Iranian oil when it reimposed sanctions last Monday aimed at forcing Tehran to curb its nuclear, missile and regional activities.

"It has now become clear that America cannot cut Iran's oil exports to zero," Rouhani added, speaking after a weekly meeting with the heads of the parliament and the judiciary.

In May, Trump exited Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with six powers and Washington reimposed the first round of sanctions on Iran in August.

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said his country hopes to work with China on sanctions imposed on Iran, telling a press conference that during an earlier meeting with his Chinese counterparts he expressed a desire to cooperate with China in addressing Iran's nuclear missile programs and other activities.

"We hope to work with the Chinese government and Chinese energy companies in this regard," Pompeo said. "Bringing Iran's oil export revenues to zero is a critical component of this campaign and we discussed this today."

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The move underscores the challenges Iran faces in rekindling plans to import planes after the U.S. reimposed sanctions, though Iran Air reiterated on Wednesday it would welcome offers from suppliers not subject to restrictions on the export of U.S. plane parts.

Deals to buy 200 aircraft from aviation giants Airbus, Boeing and European turboprop maker ATR have virtually all stalled after the United States withdrew from a 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers and reimposed sanctions on firms including Iran Air.

Iran's search for other suppliers was a talking point on the sidelines of Airshow China this week, where China promoted its growing aircraft industry as it looks to break into foreign markets for planes such as its long-delayed ARJ21 regional jet.

Asked whether Iran had shown interest in buying Chinese airplanes, Zhao Yuerang, general manager of manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, said, "No, we cannot sell to Iran. Iran is off the table."

Pressed on China's ability to sell the ARJ21 to Iran, he added, "We need to abide by regulations of both countries."

In May, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control revoked licenses to sell passenger jets to Iran that are required for any plane with more than 10% U.S. parts, regardless of where it is made.

Iran Air has said it is looking to buy planes from any company not requiring the U.S. permits and may consider Russia's Sukhoi Superjet 100.

Asked at Airshow China in Zhuhai whether Moscow was in talks to sell the Superjet to Iran Air, a senior official with state holding company Rostec declined to comment in detail.

"This is a sensitive issue," Viktor Kladov, Rostec's director for international cooperation and regional policy, said. "You understand why, because we cannot endanger the whole Superjet program."

Besides controlling exports for aircraft containing over 10% U.S. parts, analysts say the United States sets the tone for global aviation through its benchmark system of safety regulation and the widespread use of the dollar in plane deals.

Kladov said Russia's industry would continue to follow international standards on regulation and aircraft safety but would strive to be independent commercially.

Rostec is already doing some deals in Russian and other currencies, he added.

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The United States resumed sanctions on Iran's oil, shipping and banking industries on Monday after President Donald Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal earlier this year. It granted temporary exemptions to eight countries allowing them to continue importing Iranian oil, although it said the ultimate goal is to completely halt exports from Iran.

Hook declined to give details of the confidential bilateral deals with the countries, which include China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Greece, Italy and Turkey.

"We have been very careful about applying maximum economic pressure [on Iran] without lifting the price of oil and we have done that successfully," Hook told reporters.

"We are going to be continuing our path to zero," Hook said. "We do want to achieve maximum pressure without harming friends or allies and we don't want to lift the price of oil. We have calibrated this very well."

Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, deputy commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, said on Wednesday that his country can flourish under sanctions and would defeat the United States in the economic war.

Iran's exports peaked at 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, including 300,000 bpd of condensate, a lighter form of oil. Overall exports have since fallen to 1.8 million bpd, according to energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, which estimates volumes dropping to 1 million bpd.

Oil prices in October rallied above $85 per barrel on fears of a steep decline in Iranian exports and have fallen since then. On Wednesday, oil slipped after U.S. crude output hit another record and domestic inventories rose more than expected.

Asked if the administration had a target in reducing Iranian oil exports in the next six months, Hook said, "I can't tell you what our target is; we do have a target." He added that the ultimate aim was to halt Iranian exports entirely.

He said the United States expected increased global oil supply in 2019, surpassing demand, which would better position Washington to ask Iranian oil importers to reduce purchases to zero.

Washington's "maximum pressure" strategy would also apply to the escrow accounts holding Iranian oil revenues, Hook said, adding that the Treasury Department would ensure that the accounts are never used for illicit goods. "We will police these very aggressively," he added.

Hook raised the possibility that countries and port operators could face U.S. penalties for facilitating Iran's "illicit activities" if they allowed Iranian ships access to international waterways and port facilities. Iran regularly shipped "millions of barrels of crude" to Syria in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, he said.

Hook said Iranian vessels would lose access to international insurance markets under U.S. sanctions.

"From the Suez Canal to the Strait of Malacca and all choke-points in between, Iranian tankers are a floating liability," Hook said. "Self-insured Iranian tankers are a risk to the ports that permit them to dock, the canals that allow them to transit and the boat that cross their path. This exposes the entire maritime shipping network to immense liability."

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