Tehran (dpa) - Iranian President Hassan Rowhani criticized Europe's policy in the dispute over the 2015 nuclear deal during a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday in Tehran.

"After all, we fulfilled our responsibilities as laid out by the deal," said Rowhani. "Unfortunately, the other side did not."

Rowhani added that Iran was ready to fully return to the nuclear deal - which curbs the country's ability to acquire a nuclear bomb in return for sweeping sanctions relief - but then the other signatories would have to fulfil their side of the bargain as well.

The nuclear deal has been in jeopardy since the United States announced its unilateral withdrawal in 2018 and reimposed stringent restrictions on trade with Iran.

Since then, Tehran has scaled back its compliance with core elements of the deal, and Iran announced that it no longer felt bound by its obligations under the deal, prompting Britain, France and Germany to trigger the accord's dispute resolution mechanism last month.

Rowhani said on Monday that the country would continue to work closely with the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, unless Tehran was "confronted with a new situation," referring to the mechanism that provides for sanctions over any violations of the deal.

Besides Iran and the three European states, Russia and China are also party to the nuclear deal.

Before meeting with Rowhani, Borrell also held two meetings with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about saving the nuclear deal. Iranian media did not report details about the talks.