Iran says US trying to derail nuclear deal with Europe

Tehran has accused the US of trying to sabotage efforts to save a nuclear deal between Iran, Russia, Europe and China, following Washington's withdrawal last week from the accord.

It comes as Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif made a trips to Europe and China, in a bid to see how the nuclear deal can be rescued.

Tehran is looking for guarantees from Europe that the deal can continue without the US and warned it could restart its nuclear programme if talks fail.

The US has meanwhile announced new sanctions on Iran, including on the country's central bank head. 

Iran's foreign ministry has said the US is doing its best to derail the deal.

"With such destructive measures, the American government is trying to influence the will and decision of the remaining signatories of the JCPOA (nuclear agreement)," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said, according to Fars news agency.

Europe has meanwhile offered no guarantees that it can keep the deal alive, but said it is doing what it can to rescue the agreement.

"We all agreed that we have a relative in intensive care and we all want to get him or her out of intensive care as quickly as possible," said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, according to Reuters.

"I cannot talk about legal or economic guarantees but I can talk about serious, determined, immediate work from the European side," Mogherini said.