Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday blasted France, Germany and Britain for triggering the dispute mechanism of their nuclear agreement with Iran (JCPOA).

In a tweet on Thursday Zarif said the E3 which consists of France, Germany and Britain "sold out remnants of JCPOA to avoid new Trump Tariffs".

"It won't work my friends. You only wet his appetite. Remember your high school bully? If you want to sell your integrity, go ahead. But DO NOT assume high moral/legal ground. YOU DON'T HAVE IT," Zarif wrote in his tweet.

The Iranian foreign minister also posted a screenshot of a Washington Post article published on Wednesday that claimed Trump had secretly threatened to impose a 25% tariff on European cars if they did not surrender to his position on Iran.

According to the article the threat was made days before Germany, France and Britain, collectively known as E3, formally accused Iran of breaching the 2015 nuclear deal formally known as the Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The article claims that the Trump officials had warned that the United States would impose a 25% tariff on European automobiles if the E3 refused to initiate a dispute mechanism in JCPOA which the United State unilaterally withdrew from in 2018.

Earlier on Thursday in a meeting with the EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue conference in New Dehli Zarif criticized the E3 for triggering the dispute mechanism and said the E3 needed to "correct their behavior" towards Tehran and regarding the nuclear deal.

An EU press release issued after the meeting ​ said Zarif and Borrell had discussed the latest developments around the JCPOA "in a frank dialogue" and that the EU foreign policy chief had underlined the continued interest of the EU "to preserve the agreement, which is now more important than ever, in light of the dangerous escalations in the Middle East and the Gulf region.