TEHRAN - On Friday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to Donald Trump’s claim that Iran was not living up to the "spirit" of the nuclear deal, saying the U.S. president “always wanted to kill” the agreement.

“POTUS always wanted to kill JCPOA. To avoid isolation, he's trying to blame it on Iran. Bad faith on top of US violating the letter & spirit,” Zarif tweeted.

The pent-up Trump repeated his claim on Thursday that Iran is not "living up to the spirit" of the international nuclear accord which he called a "horrible agreement."

"I don't think they're living up to the spirit of the agreement," Trump told reporters at his golf retreat in New Jersey, where he is on a 17-day working vacation. "I personally don't think they're in compliance. But we have time, and we're going to see."

"I think you'll see some very strong things taking place if they don't get themselves in compliance," he said.

Formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal was signed in July 2015 between Iran, the United States, Russia, China and three European powers. It gave Iran relief from all nuclear-related sanctions in exchange for rolling back its nuclear activities. 

The deal went into effect in January 2016.

Since his campaign trail and eight months into his tenure, Trump has made a cascade of hostile, disquieting remarks about the nuclear deal, branding it "one of the worst deals ever made by any country in history". 

AK/PA