France's finance minister says European countries should push back harder against the Trump administration over the Iran nuclear deal and not act as "vassals" to the U.S.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran accord isn't a reason to dump decades of trans-Atlantic ties altogether.

The back and forth Friday came as thousands of Iranians took to the streets in cities across the country to protest Trump's decision.

European governments are scrambling for ways to save billions of dollars in trade that could collapse because of U.S. President Donald Trump's decision this week to re-impose sanctions. Trump argued that the 2015 nuclear deal, which allowed for the lifting of sanctions, wasn't tough enough on Iran.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Europe-1 radio that Europe should not accept that the U.S. is the "world's economic policeman."

"Do we want to be vassals who obey decisions taken by the United States while clinging to the hem of their trousers?" Le Maire asked. "Or do we want to say we have our economic interests, we consider we will continue to do trade with Iran?"