Iran's top diplomat presses efforts to save nuclear deal

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, speak at Abe's official residence in Tokyo Thursday, May 16, 2019. Iran’s foreign minister has said his country is committed to an international nuclear deal and criticized escalating U.S. sanctions “unacceptable” as he met with Japanese officials in Tokyo amid rising tensions in the Middle East.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's foreign minister is pressing ahead with intense diplomatic efforts to salvage Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers at the center of a crisis unfolding between Iran and the U.S.

Mohammad Javad Zarif chastised the international community, saying that so far, it has "mainly made statements, instead of saving the deal," according to the official IRNA news agency. He spoke in China on Friday after visiting Japan.

The Trump administration pulled America out of the deal last year and imposed escalating sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. Other signatories to the deal — the European Union, France, Britain, China and Russia — have been trying to salvage it.

Iran recently warned it would resume enriching uranium at higher levels if a new nuclear deal isn't reached by July 7.