European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell met Iran's new Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian Tuesday in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, the EU said in a statement Wednesday.
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The meeting was scheduled in the absence of a ministerial meeting of the parties to the 2015 nuclear deal in New York during the annual UN gathering of world leaders.
"The Iranian Foreign Minister assured of the willingness to resume negotiations at an early date," the EU said in a statement. "High Representative Borrell ... underlined once again the great importance of a quick resumption of the Vienna talks."
The remaining parties to the deal that meant to contain Iran's nuclear program have held several rounds of talks in Vienna earlier this year on how to bring the US back into the agreement and how Iran can return to compliance with its terms.
But the last round ended in June, ahead of Iran's elections that boosted the ranks of hardliners. Iran's new leaders have come under pressure to resume the talks.
Former President Donald Trump pulled America out of the deal in 2018 and imposed strict sanctions on Iran that have since clobbered its economy. Iran, in turn, has violated limits that the deal had imposed on its nuclear activities, leaving it in tatters.
There has been speculation that the remaining parties to the deal – Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany and Iran – would meet on the sidelines of this week's UN General Assembly. But it appears the meeting won't take place.
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