He further said Britain, France and Germany must pledge they would not seek negotiations on Iran's ballistic missile program and on its regional activities, both of which were not covered by the nuclear pact but are now demanded by Washington.

Khamenei said that over the past two years the United States "has repeatedly violated" the nuclear deal but the Europeans had remained silent. He asked Europe to "make up for that silence” and to "stand up against [new] US sanctions.”

He warned that if the Europeans did not meet these demands, Iran would resume its enrichment of uranium, shelved under the deal to minimise the risk of Tehran developing nuclear weapons.

Khamenei also launched a fresh broadside at Washington's rejection of the nuclear accord, saying the US withdrawal showed the Islamic Republic could not deal with a country that did not abide by its commitments.

In his first public remarks since US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded Iran make sweeping policy changes, Khamenei expressed revulsion at what he suggested was the casual and boastful way the Trump administration had abandoned the accord.

"The Islamic Republic cannot deal with a government that easily violates an international treaty, withdraws its signature and in a theatrical show brags about its withdrawal on television," he said in excepts of his remarks posted on his website.

In a clear reference to demands made by Pompeo that Tehran's Middle East influence should be curbed, Khamenei said, “Iran's presence in the region ... is our strategic depth and no sensible government would give up on its strengthening features."

Pompeo on Monday threatened to 'crush' Iran with "the strongest sanctions in history" if it did not scale back regional activities such as support for armed groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen as well as the government side in Syria's civil war.

Listing what he called his experiences of US government behaviour towards Tehran over the decades, Khamenei said: "The first experience is that the Islamic Republic cannot deal with America. Why? Because America is not loyal to its commitments."

"Iran was committed to the deal. They [the Americans] have no excuse. The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly verified Iran’s commitment. But you see they [Americans] easily cancel this international agreement."

"The current US President will meet the same fate as his predecessors ... and will vanish from history," he said, referring to Trump.

Khamenei, while saying he wanted no falling out with the European signatories to the nuclear deal, said experience had shown France, Germany and Britain followed their ally Washington on the "most sensitive issues".

France, one of several European powers dismayed by the American withdrawal, said Washington's method of piling more sanctions on Tehran would reinforce the country's dominant hardliners who opposed the pact in the first place.

And German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton that Europe remained "very, very united" in supporting the deal because it feared a proliferation of atomic weapons on its doorstep.

A senior Iranian military official, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, said Iran would not bow to US pressure to limit its military activities. Washington "does not have the courage for military confrontation and face-to-face war with Iran," he said.

Reuters