TEHRAN, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday that the Europeans have been unable to implement their nuclear commitments to preserve Iran's interests, official IRNA news agency reported.

Following the U.S. exit from the Iranian 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) last year, Iran remained committed to the accord, said Zarif at the 14th Iran-South Africa joint commission meetings held in Tehran.

"Unfortunately, we did not witness any measure, and Europe proved to be unable to honor its commitments," he noted.

"As a result, Iran's strategic patience ended" and Iran started to reduce its commitments to the JCPOA, he said.

In case the parties to the nuclear deal do not take steps to protect Iran's interests, Iran will take more steps to reduce its relevant commitments, the Iranian minister added.

Iran started withdrawal from its nuclear commitments in May and has since moved to build stockpiles of nuclear fuel and enrich low-grade uranium to a higher level of purity, in addition to starting up advanced centrifuges to boost the stockpile of the enriched uranium which has been restricted by the JCPOA.