Iran has listed several conditions for European powers if they want Tehran to stay in the nuclear deal after the United States’ exit. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanded on Wednesday that Europe guarantee sales of Iranian oil and its banks ensure trade with Iran.

“European banks should safeguard trade with the Islamic Republic,” Khamenei said. “We do not want to start a fight with these three countries [France, Germany and the United Kingdom] but we don’t trust them either.”

He added: “If the US can damage the sale of our oil, we must be able to sell as much oil as we want. Europeans must guarantee that they compensate for the loss, and that they buy Iran’s oil.”

Khamenei also said European powers must promise they will not seek new negotiations on Iran’s ballistic missile programme. He asked Europe to “make up for [its] silence” when the US violated the 2015 deal, and to “stand up against the US sanctions”.

If Europe does not meet the demands, Iran will resume its enrichment of uranium, Khamenei warned. “If the Europeans linger over our demands, Iran has the right to resume its nuclear activities,” he said. “When we see that the [2015 nuclear deal] was useless, one way forward is to restart those halted activities.”

On Monday, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to impose the “strongest sanctions in history” against Iran if it did not accept America’s demands. The demands include curtailing Iran’s ballistic missile programme and ending its “expansionist behaviour”.

Pompeo’s announcement came just two weeks after US President Donald Trump pulled out of a nuclear agreement with Iran signed in 2015 during Barack Obama’s tenure. The nuclear deal, signed by the five permanent members of the United Nations, Germany, the European Union and Iran, had lifted decades-old sanctions on Tehran on the promise that it would tone down its nuclear programme considerably.