Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has slammed US President Donald Trump’s so-called 'America First' agenda and said it was a “mistake.”

According to Iran’s Press TV, Zarif said his administration’s failure to honor international commitments under such an approach has only created a global backlash against Washington.

Zarif made the remarks in an interview with London-based al-Araby al-Jadeed media outlet that was published on Tuesday.

He was asked about a recent tweet by Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, on French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent call for the creation of a “real European army” to protect itself against the US.

Haass had said “America First has brought us the revival of the spirit of De Gaulle. More evidence of a post-American world.”

Zarif stressed that he agreed with Haass regarding the fallout of Trump’s 'America First' approach.

“Well, I think the United States is an extremely powerful country. The military expenditure of the United States is equal to the military expenditure of all other countries combined. However, the excessive use of any strength leads to its demise and leads to reaction on the part of the international community,” he said.

“President Trump, I think, has committed a grave mistake, as Richard Haass has pointed out. And that is he has tried to project the American military might as well as the American economic might over the ability of the rest of the international community to accept it. And that has created the backlash among US allies, backlash in Europe, backlash elsewhere. So, the America First approach has in fact created this backlash and everybody expected it,” he added.

Zarif also noted that the US has faced global criticism over the Trump administration’s failure to honor international agreements such as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“The US under President Trump believes that it does not need to respect the international law because…it’s too confident of its power,” he said.

Zarif was also asked about US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s interview with BBC Persian last week, during which he said the Iranian government must listen to Washington “if they want their people to eat.”

The Iranian foreign minister says his American counterpart must assume responsibility for what he says or disown what the US does, Press TV reported.

The Iranian foreign minister said Pompeo’s remarks exposed “the malicious intent of the United States.”

“I think it is clear that Iran has survived and will survive and will make progress without the United States and in spite of the United States. But what is day clear in the statement by Mr. Pompeo is that he is declaring that whatever he says about not targeting Iranian people is simply untrue. He is targeting Iranian people not only Iranian people in general but even he is trying - in vain in our view - to starve Iranian people,” he concluded.

Last week, the Trump administration launched a second round of sanctions against Iran since May, when Washington pulled out of the nuclear deal.