PressTV-- The senior Iranian diplomat made the comments in a late September interview with the American Newsweek magazine, the transcript of which was published on Friday.

In response to a question whether Iran's insistence that the deal is not open to renegotiating would put it on a "collision course" with the US, Zarif said, "We’re not putting ourselves on a collision course with anybody... And I believe they are putting themselves on a collision course with the international community.”

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany signed the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on July 14, 2015, and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.

Zarif’s remarks come as US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his strong opposition to the accord and has desperately sought a pretext to scrap or weaken it and get rid of the limits the deal imposes on the US ability to pursue more hostile policies against Iran.

Trump faces an October 15 deadline for certifying that Iran is complying with the accord's terms. He has twice endorsed Tehran's compliance but on Thursday he claimed that Iran had not "lived up to the spirit of the agreement."