LONDON — Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday that a newly established Iran Action Group in the US State Department aims to overthrow the Iranian state, but it would fail.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday named senior policy adviser Brian Hook as special representative for Iran in charge of the Iran Action Group to coordinate President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic following Washington’s withdrawal from a nuclear deal with Tehran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted: “65 years ago today, the US overthrew the popularly elected democratic government of Dr. Mossadegh, restoring the dictatorship & subjugating Iranians for the next 25 years. Now an “Action Group” dreams of doing the same through pressure, misinformation & demagoguery. Never again.”

In 1953, the United States helped orchestrate the overthrow of freely elected nationalist Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, restoring to power Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. The shah was toppled in Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Zarif also said on Sunday that Europe had not yet shown it was willing to “pay the price” of defying Washington in order to save the nuclear deal.

Zarif said European governments had put forward proposals to maintain oil and banking ties with Iran after the second phase of US sanctions return in November.

But he told Iran’s Young Journalist Club website that these measures were more “a statement of their position than practical measures”.

“Although they have moved forward, we believe that Europe is not yet ready to pay the price (of truly defying the US),” Zarif said.

US President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal in May, and began re-imposing sanctions earlier this month that block other countries from trading with Iran.

A second phase of sanctions targeting Iran’s crucial oil industry and banking relations will return on Nov. 5.

Europe has vowed to keep providing Iran with the economic benefits it received from the nuclear deal, but many of its bigger companies have already pulled out of the country for fear of US penalties.

“Iran can respond to Europe’s political will when it is accompanied by practical measures,” said Zarif.

“Europeans say the JCPOA (nuclear deal) is a security achievement for them. Naturally each country must invest and pay the price for its security. We must see them paying this price in the coming months.” — Agencies