NEW YORK - A US push to change the Iran nuclear deal was sending a "very dangerous message" that countries should never negotiate with Washington, Iran's foreign minister warned as US and North Korean leaders prepare to meet for denuclearization talks.
Speaking to reporters in New York on Saturday, Mohammad Javad Zarif also said that for French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel "to try to appease the president (Donald Trump) would be an exercise in futility."
Trump will decide by May 12 whether to restore US economic sanctions on Tehran, which would be a severe blow to the 2015 pact between Iran and six major powers. He has pressured European allies to work with Washington to fix the deal.
Macron and Merkel are both due to meet with Trump in Washington this week.
"The United States has not only failed to implement its side (of the deal), but is even asking for more," said Zarif, who is in New York to attend a UN General Assembly meeting.
"That's a very dangerous message to send to people of Iran but also to the people of the world - that you should never come to an agreement with the United States because at the end of the day the operating principle of the United States is 'what's mine is mine, what's yours is negotiable,'" he said.