TEHRAN – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has responded to recent remarks by his French counterpart who called for “tough discussions” on Iran’s ballistic missiles and its regional role, saying that the European signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal did nothing to save the deal, officially called the JCPOA.

“E3 leaders—who rely on signature of OFAC functionaries to carry out their obligations under JCPOA—have done ZILCH to maintain JCPOA. Remember @EmmanuelMacron's stillborn initiative or UK non-payment of court-ordered debt? JCPOA is alive because of Iran and not E3, @JY_LeDrian,” Zarif said in a tweet on Sunday.

The chief Iranian diplomat also said France is destabilizing the West Asia region and protecting those who “chainsaw their critics.”

“Dear colleague: You kick-started your cabinet career with arms sales to Saudi war criminals. Avoid absurd nonsense about Iran. Reality check: YOU are destabilizing OUR region. Stop protecting criminals who chainsaw their critics and use YOUR arms to slaughter children in Yemen,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in another tweet.

Zarif was apparently responding to recent remarks by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in which he accused Iran of trying to acquire nuclear weapons capacity.

“The Trump administration chose what it called the maximum pressure campaign on Iran. The result was that this strategy only increased the risk and the threat,” Le Drian told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper, according to a Reuters report. “This has to stop because Iran and - I say this clearly - is in the process of acquiring nuclear (weapons) capacity.”

Le Drian also said that the return of Iran and the United States to the Iran nuclear deal –formally called JCPOA – is not enough.

 “Tough discussions will be needed over ballistic proliferation and Iran’s destabilization of its neighbors in the region,” he said.

SM/PA