TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Iran poured scorn on threatened U.S. sanctions Tuesday and told European powers to step up and salvage its international nuclear deal - though Germany signaled there was only so much it could do to fend off Washington's economic clout.
Senior Iranian military and political figures responded a day after Washington threatened "the strongest sanctions in history" if Iran failed to make a series of sweeping changes.
Two weeks on from U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the nuclear pact, his administration told Iran to drop its nuclear program and pull out of the Syria war among other demands.
"The people of Iran should stand united in the face of this and they will deliver a strong punch to the mouth of the American Secretary of State and anyone who backs them," Ismail Kowsari, a senior commander with Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said, according to the Iranian Labor News Agency.
The head of Iran's National Security and Foreign Policy committee in parliament said that the only way to salvage the nuclear deal would be for the European signatories to stand up to the United States.
"Today they must show their strength in the face of American pressure," Alaeddin Borujerdi said, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas Monday told reporters in Argentina he would travel on from there to Washington to discuss the nuclear deal with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He gave no date for his meeting.
Germany's economy minister earlier told a newspaper the Berlin government would help German firms with business in Iran where it could, but could not entirely shield them from the U.S. decision to quit the Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions.
Asked how the German government could assist German firms feeling nervous in the wake of the U.S. decision, Peter Altmaier told the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper that Berlin would help them assess the situation and developments while also urging the U.S. to grant exemptions and deadline extensions.
"We will help where we can, but there is no way of completely averting the consequences of this unilateral withdrawal," he said.
His statement was echoed by Luxembourg’s foreign minister Jean Asselborn who said there were limits to the European Union's powers to persuade its larger firms to stay in Iran in the face of threatened U.S. sanctions.
"We know there are hardly any larger companies in Europe that do not also trade with the United States. The pressure on European companies from the U.S. is quite large," he told reporters in Brussels. "We are in the situation that we're in."
"I believe we should not give up, we should try until the end, to show, with our heads held high, that we are right and Mr. Trump is wrong," he added.
French President Emmanuel Macron last week acknowledged the dilemma faced by firms choosing between trading with the biggest economy in the world, the United States, and risking sanctions and massive fines by trading with Iran.
Pompeo said Monday Washington would impose new penalties if Tehran did not make sweeping changes. Limiting Iran's missile capabilities was one of Pompeo's main demands.
"Who are you and America to tell us to limit the range of ballistic missiles?" Kowsari said, according to ILNA. "History has shown that with the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, America is the top criminal with regard to missiles," he added.
Qasem Soleimani, the head of the branch of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps that carries out operations outside Iran's borders, was singled out by Pompeo as a top troublemaker in the Middle East.
Kowsari said that the Iranian people back Soleimani. "Soleimani is not a single person. The great people of Iran support him," Kowsari said.
Separately, Iran's government spokesman said that the plan outlined by Pompeo would exacerbate the public's hostility to the United States.
"Do the Americans think that the silk glove that they've taken out and the iron hand that they've extended to the people, a hand that's backed by Israel and the (Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization), will make Iranian people think that America wants democracy?" Muhammad Baqer Nobakht said Tuesday.
John Bolton, the U.S. national security advisor, has been a supporter of the MKO, which is one of the most ruthless terrorist groups in the world.
The United States Tuesday imposed sanctions on five Iranians, claiming that they had provided Yemen's Houthis with expertise and weaponry used to launch missiles at cities and oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, the U.S. Treasury named the individuals as Mehdi Azarpisheh, Muhammad Jafari, Mahmud Kazemabad, Javad Shir Amin, and Sayyed Muhammad Tehrani.  
The fresh sanctions are part of President Donald Trump's pledge to economically suffocate Iran in hopes of hampering the country's development.