Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has expressed confidence on “international consensus” in preserving the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, four days ahead of a deadline for the re-imposition of US sanctions against the country. Zarif said on Friday that China was "pivotal" to salvaging the agreement after the United States pulled out of the pact earlier this year. "The role of China in the implementation of JCPOA, in achieving JCPOA, and now in sustaining JCPOA, will be pivotal," Zarif said, referring to the technical name for the nuclear deal. He spoke after meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Singapore on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also said Friday that the European Union intends to continue and even step up its trade and economic cooperation with Iran, despite the US decision to reimpose sanctions on Tehran. "We are determined to continue and even increase (our) economic and trade engagement, legitimate economic and trade engagement with Iran even if the United States has decided to impose sanctions," Mogherini said. However, she noted that cooperation with Iran would be difficult under Washington’s sanctions, due to "the weight of the US financial role." Meanwhile, Beijing has agreed not to ramp up purchases of Iranian crude, two officials familiar with the negotiations told Bloomberg. Teams of US officials have been visiting capitals around the world to try to choke off sales of Iranian oil by early November, when US sanctions are due to snap back into effect. On Iran’s naval exercise in the Gulf, a US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several dozen boats were out training early Thursday morning.  The vessels are mostly small attack boats, and there have been no interactions with US ships in the area, the official told Agence France Presse. In a statement, Captain Bill Urban, the militarys Central Command spokesman, said the US was "aware of an increase" in Iranian naval operations in the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.