On Friday, the European Union's foreign and security chief Josep Borrell will arrive in Tehran in an attempt to break the deadlock in the nuclear deal talks.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the European official would meet with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and other officials, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
He added that during the visit - which is taking place within the framework of the ongoing consultations between Iran and the European Union - bilateral issues and a number of international and regional issues will be discussed, as well as the latest developments related to negotiations to lift sanctions.
A spokesman for the foreign policy coordinator confirmed Borrell's visit to Tehran and his meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abdullahian, "in an attempt to break the frozen talks."
"Diplomacy is the only way to return to the full implementation of the agreement and remove current tensions," Borrell wrote in a tweet confirming his visit.
Amir Abdollahian and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, had recently held talks with Borrell and European Union coordinator to revive the nuclear deal with Iran Enrique Mora.
In his statements on Thursday, Amir Abdullahian said that his country "seriously" hopes to reach an agreement with the great powers - including the United States - after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Tehran, and called on Washington to be "realistic."
More than a year ago, Iran and the world powers in the 2015 agreement (France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China) began discussions in Vienna in which the United States indirectly participated, which had unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in mid-2018 under its former president, Donald Trump.
The negotiations aim to restore Washington to the agreement and lift the sanctions imposed by America on Tehran after its withdrawal, in exchange for the latter’s compliance again with its obligations under the agreement, which it had retracted after the American step.
However, the talks were officially suspended last March, with those concerned confirming that the understanding is almost complete, but with points of difference remaining between Washington and Tehran, most notably the latter's request to remove the name of the Revolutionary Guards from the US list of foreign "terrorist" organizations.