A senior US official personally offered several million dollars to the Indian captain of an Iranian oil tanker suspected of heading to Syria, the State Department confirmed Wednesday.

Iran's foreign minister said on Tuesday Tehran would further cut its commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal unless European states acted to salvage the pact by Thursday, but that this did not mean the "end of talks", Iranian news agencies reported.

Iran said on Monday it would further reduce its commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal if European parties failed to shield Tehran's economy from sanctions reimposed by the United States after Washington quit the accord last year.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday the United States must observe the 2015 nuclear deal and stop engaging in "economic terrorism" against the Iranian people if Washington wants to meet for talks.

Iran's foreign minister said talks he held on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron about a landmark 2015 nuclear deal were "productive", according to the ILNA news agency.

Sweden has received "very strong indications" that a British oil tanker seized last month by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz is to be released soon, Swedish public service broadcaster SVT reported on Thursday, citing sources within Sweden's foreign ministry.

Iran is prepared to work on French proposals to salvage the international nuclear deal that Tehran signed with world powers in 2015 but it will not tolerate U.S. interference in the Gulf, its foreign minister said on Thursday.

An Iranian tanker at the center of an angry confrontation between Iran and Washington sailed for Greece on Monday after it was freed from detention off Gibraltar, as Washington called the release unfortunate and warned Greece and Mediterranean ports against helping the vessel.

President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that Iran was ready for the worst in an uphill struggle to salvage its nuclear deal with world powers abandoned by the United States, but that he was sure Tehran would eventually prevail.

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, targeting the country's top spokesman and potentially hurting chances of diplomatic talks amid rising tensions between the two countries.

Iran is prepared for dialogue if Saudi Arabia is also ready, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday that tight U.S. travel restrictions on Iranian diplomats and their families living in New York are "basically inhuman."

The United Nations told the United States it is concerned by tight travel restrictions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during his visit to New York this week, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said on Monday.

The United States has decided not to impose sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for now, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, in a sign Washington may be holding a door open for diplomacy.

Iran's foreign minister said on Twitter on Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump's view that a conflict with Iran would be a "short war" was an illusion and that his threat of "obliteration" amounted to threatening "genocide".

Iran's foreign minister said on Twitter that a U.S. military drone that was shot down by Tehran on Thursday had taken off from the United Arab Emirates.

Iran will reduce some "voluntary" commitments within its nuclear deal with world powers as a response to members' inability to resist U.S. pressure, but will not withdraw from it, state media on Wednesday quoted Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying.

President Donald Trump said on Monday he would name Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization, in an unprecedented step that drew Iranian condemnation and raised concerns about retaliatory attacks on U.S. forces.

Iran sees no point in fresh nuclear talks with the US without guarantees it will not renege on any deal made, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday it was “shameful” that U.S. President Donald Trump had pledged support for Saudi Arabia despite the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its consulate.