Nuclear power plant (illustration)
Nuclear power plant (illustration)Thinkstock

Iran has made clear that the nuclear deal it signed with world powers in 2015 is "not negotiable", AFP reports.

The comments by Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi on Saturday were in response to remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron last week called for vigilance towards Tehran over its ballistic missile program and regional activities, saying he did not rule out imposing sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missiles.

"We have told French leaders on several occasions that the Iran nuclear deal is not negotiable and that no other issues can be included in the text" of the 2015 agreement, state news agency IRNA quoted Ghassemi as saying in response to Macron.

France, he added, is "fully aware of our country's intangible position concerning the issue of Iran's defensive affairs which are not negotiable".

While Macron criticized Iran's ballistic missiles, he also reiterated his stance that there was no immediate alternative to the Iranian nuclear deal, which U.S. President Donald Trump recently refused to recertify.

EU member countries Britain, France and Germany remain firm backers of the Iran nuclear agreement and have criticized Trump for threatening to scrap it.

France has been trying to salvage the 2015 deal and, on October 13, Macron told Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a phone call that France remained committed to the deal.

Iran's ballistic missile program remains a concern as te Islamic Republic has several times test-fired ballistic missiles in recent months, raising the ire of the West.

The United States has already imposed sanctions on Iran, saying its missile tests violate UN resolutions. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has stressed that Iran will continue to produce missiles for its defense and does not consider that a violation of international agreements.