Iran on Sunday ruled out holding an informal meeting with the United States and European powers to discuss ways to revive its 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, insisting that Washington must lift all its sanctions first.

"Considering the recent actions and statements by the United States and three European powers, Iran does not consider this the time to hold an informal meeting with these countries, which was proposed by the EU foreign policy chief," Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said, according to Iranian media.

The United States responded to the statement by saying it was disappointed that Iran rejected the offer of talks, but said it remained ready to reengage in meaningful diplomacy on the issue.

"While we are disappointed at Iran’s response, we remain ready to reengage in meaningful diplomacy to achieve a mutual return to compliance with JCPOA commitments," a White House spokeswoman said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or Iran nuclear deal.

She said Washington would be consulting with its P5+1 partners, the four other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — China, France, Russia, United Kingdom - plus Germany on the best way forward.

Iranian officials had earlier said Tehran was studying a proposal by European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to hold an informal meeting with other parties to the nuclear pact and the United States, which reimposed sanctions on Iran after then-president Donald Trump quit the deal in 2018.

Iran and the new U.S. administration of President Joe Biden have been at odds over who should take the first step to revive the accord. Iran insists the United States must first lift sanctions while Washington says Tehran must first return to compliance with the deal, which it has been progressively breaching.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sketched out a potential choreography on Feb. 1 to overcome the impasse.

But Iran's decisions on the issue rests squarely with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who has repeatedly called the United States untrustworthy and at one point during Trump's presidency banned any negotiations with Washington.

Last week Iran reduced access for the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors while it is enriching uranium at 20 percent, cutting the time needed to reach the 90 percent purification level for a nuclear bomb.

With reporting by Reuters