Berlin wants to keep alive the agreement, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert, adding: "We as Europeans, as Germans, will play our part and we expect full implementation from Iran as well."

Germany is one of six parties that signed the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to lift nuclear-related sanctions on Iran in return for Tehran's agreement to rein in nuclear activities and ease fears it was seeking the capability to produce an atomic bomb.

A German foreign ministry spokesman said that "we and the other remaining participants in the JCPOA are fully committed to the pledges we have made and we expect Iran to do the same".