TEHRAN (Ruptly) — German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas lamented the “highly explosive” situation and “dangerous escalation of tensions” between Iran and the United States on Monday, during a press conference in Tehran after a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Maas, who travelled to Iran on behalf of the three European signatories of the JCPOA, Germany, France and the UK, said, "we stand by the JCPOA and we also want to stick to our responsibilities from the JCPOA, at the same time we can’t work miracles but we still endeavour forcefully to do everything to avoid a failure [of the deal]."

“The situation we find ourselves in the region here is highly explosive and extremely serious, and a dangerous escalation of tensions that are already present”, Maas said, adding that the potential military escalation would be in nobody’s interest.

During the press conference, Zarif blamed the Middle East’s problems on Israel’s “Zionist regime” and its US support, adding, “we have never started any wars and we will not do so. However, if another country starts a war with us, they will not be the ones to finish it.” Zarif’s comments appeared to be responding to a tweet in May by US President Donald Trump, who said, “if Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran.”

The Iranian government has set a July 7 deadline for putting its partial withdrawal from the agreement into action.