Speaking to BBC Hard Talk in New York, the Iranian foreign policy chief stressed that Tehran will ultimately sell its crude even under the US sanction.
He went on to stress that "the Iranian nation's dignity is not for sale", referring to the US offer of talks without lifting its unilateral economic sanctions.
Iran has said time and again that it's always ready for negotiations if the US removes its extraterritorial sanction that it imposed on Tehran after leaving the 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Zarif, who is in New York to attend a high-level UN meeting in sustainable development, slammed US President Donald Trump's Administration for withdrawing from the JCPOA, saying agreements are signed between states and not governments, IRNA reported.
"It was a deal approved by the international community, including the US. It's not important that which government was negotiating," he told the BBC on Monday.
Zarif reminded the US authorities of international laws on treaties. "As you know, in the international law, governments aren't identified, it's the states that are recognized and those states are represented by various governments," he reiterated.
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