Iranian President Rouhani said he was still ready to negotiate a nuclear deal if the United States abandoned "illegal" sanctions.

"If they are prepared to dismiss sanctions, we are ready to speak and negotiate, even at the level of heads of state P5 + 1," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a broadcast. live on Iranian state television today. P5 + 1 includes USA, Russia, China, UK, France and Germany.

The Iranian president said the White House sanctions were "cruel" and that they had no choice but to counter them. Rouhani added that the Islamic Republic has never been "closed to negotiations".

"I tell Iran that whenever the United States is about to lift its cruel, cruel and illegal sanctions, immediately, the heads of the P5 + 1 countries can meet and they I have no problem, "the Iranian president said.

Rouhani also accused Israel and Saudi Arabia, of those countries he thought were reactionary and Zionistism, that instigated sanctions against Iran.

The statement of the Iranian President today is considered a concession after the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei decided not to abolish the ban on negotiating with the US "enemy" last month.

Relations between Washington and Tehran fell into crisis after Trump last year withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, and re-imposed sanctions on the country. Tensions between the two countries continued to rise after Iran shot down US drones and oil tankers on the Strait of Hormuz.