E3 too small to bring Iran to its knees: Supreme Leader Khamenei

Iran's Supreme Leader lashed out at European signatories of the Iran nuclear deal as he delivered his first Friday sermon in Tehran in eight years.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a large crowd that Britain, France and Germany, which this week triggered a dispute mechanism to try and bring Iran back into compliance with the unravelling of the 2015 nuclear agreement, were "contemptible" governments and "servants of the United States.

He added that the nations were too weak to "bring Iranians to their knees."

However, Khamenei said Iran is willing to negotiate the terms of the deal, but not with the United States, who withdrew from the accord with world powers.

Thousands of people attended the Friday prayers, occasionally interrupting his speech by chanting "God is greatest!" and "Death to America!"

Khamenei last delivered a Friday sermon in February 2012, when he called Israel a "cancerous tumor" and vowed to support anyone confronting it.