Former Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Monday that imposing new economic sanctions against Tehran could be dangerous.

“If we become super provocative in ways that show the Iranian people there has been no advantage to this, that there is no gain, and our bellicosity is pushing them into a corner, that’s dangerous and that could bring a very different result,” AP quoted him as saying in San Francisco at a fundraiser for Ploughshares Fund.

He also said that the Iran nuclear deal could hold even if President Donald Trump pulls out.

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved in May the most sweeping sanctions against Iran since the nuclear deal was reached in 2015.

The Trump administration has supported new sanctions against Iran, which were approved 18 to 3 by the committee.

The measure is claimed to be punishing Iran over its ballistic missile program, alleged support for terrorism and human rights violations.

Elsewhere, Kerry said that there is a view that seems to dominate the Trump administration that “the U.S. can do anything that it needs to do all by itself” and he urged those in attendance to do more to fight for the government to recognize the value of diplomacy.