Iran could reduce its co-operation with the UN nuclear watchdog, President Hassan Rouhani has told the body's head, after he warned US President Donald Trump of "consequences" of fresh sanctions against Iranian oil sales.
In May, Trump pulled out of a multinational deal under which sanctions on Iran were lifted in return for curbs to its nuclear program, verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Washington has since told countries they must stop buying Iranian oil from November 4 or face financial measures.
"Iran's nuclear activities have always been for peaceful purposes, but it is Iran that would decide on its level of co-operation with the IAEA," Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted Rouhani as saying after meeting IAEA head Yukiya Amano in Vienna on Wednesday.
"The responsibility for the change of Iran's co-operation level with the IAEA falls on those who have created this new situation," he added.
Rouhani said earlier in the day Tehran would stand firm against US threats to cut Iranian oil sales.
"The Americans say they want to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero ... It shows they have not thought about its consequences," Rouhani was quoted as saying by IRNA.
On Tuesday, Rouhani hinted at a threat to disrupt oil shipments from neighbouring countries if Washington tries to cut its exports.
He did not elaborate, but an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander explicitly said on Wednesday Iran would block any exports of crude from the Gulf in retaliation for hostile US action.
"If they want to stop Iranian oil exports, we will not allow any oil shipment to pass through the Strait of Hormuz," Ismail Kowsari was quoted as saying by the Young Journalists Club (YJC) website.
Rouhani, in Vienna trying to salvage the nuclear deal, said US sanctions were a "crime and aggression", and called on European and other governments to stand up to Trump.
"Iran will survive this round of US sanctions as it has survived them before. This US government will not stay in office forever ... But history will judge other nations based on what they do today," he said.
Rouhani told reporters that if the remaining signatories - the Europeans Britain, France and Germany as well as China and Russia - can guarantee Iran's benefits: "Iran will remain in the nuclear deal without the United States."
Iran's OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, said on the Iranian oil ministry news agency SHANA:
"Trump's demand that Iranian oil should not be bought, and (his) pressures on European firms at a time when Nigeria and Libya are in crisis, when Venezuela's oil exports have fallen due to US sanctions, when Saudi's domestic consumption has increased in summer, is nothing but self-harm.
"It will increase the prices of oil in the global markets," he said. "At the end it is the American consumer who will pay the price for Mr. Trump's policy."
Foreign ministers from the five remaining signatories will meet Iranian officials in Vienna on Friday to discuss how to keep the Iran nuclear deal alive.
