He made his comments at a meeting with Josep Borell, the head of the EU’s foreign service, who traveled to Iran in an attempt to reduce tensions in the Middle East after the US  killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani last month. Under the deal, Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of most international sanctions, but the United States withdrew from the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

Rouhani said Iran is still ready for interaction and cooperation with the European Union for resolving issues and, whenever the opposite side completely upholds their commitments, Iran will return to its commitments.

In late January, President Rouhani said Iran has never pursued the development of nuclear weapons even with or without a nuclear deal and called on European countries not to violate the deal like the US.