German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas criticized on Sunday U.S. President Donald Trump for his policy of maximum pressure against Iran.

“If one wanted to improve the situation of the Iranians, it would be useless to stop the dialogue,” Maas told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, according to Deutsche Welle. 
  
“The EU is counting on diplomacy instead of escalation,” he said.

Maas said that while the U.S. withdrew from the nuclear deal and is pushing for maximum pressure against Iran, France, Great Britain and Germany wanted instead “to make progress through negotiations”.

Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the multilateral 2015 nuclear deal in May 2018 and introduced the harshest ever sanctions against Iran under his officially stated “maximum pressure” strategy. 

His administration has been trying to reach the Islamic republic for dialogue for a new deal.  

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday that Iran will never negotiate a new nuclear deal with the United States.

“We will never negotiate a new deal,” Zarif said in a meeting with All India Association of Industries (AIAI) in Mumbai.

Many analysts and think tanks believe that the maximum pressure policy has failed to achieve concrete results.

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has called the policy of “maximum pressure” on Tehran bankrupt.

“We have been pressuring them. Maximum pressure… we’re seeing the unfolding of really a bankruptcy of approach,” he told CBS News.

NA/PA