Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that a deal with the United States is still possible if Washington rejoins the nuclear deal.

Rouhani stressed - in a televised press conference - that if the United States wanted to reach an agreement with Iran, it needed only to return to the nuclear deal, and that would be appropriate.

He added that it would be a mistake for the United States to try to force Iran to sit at the negotiating table with a strategy of exerting maximum pressure, noting that "this is unacceptable."

This is the first visit of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency to Iran since he assumed his duties last December (Reuters)

Constructive conversations 

For its part, the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization announced Tuesday that it had held "constructive" talks with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi.

Grossi met the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, and then Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif.

This is the first visit of the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency to Iran since he assumed his duties last December.

It comes more than two years after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement concluded between Iran and the major powers in 2015, which imposed restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for easing sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

“A new chapter has opened with this visit,” Salehi said after his meeting with Grossi. “Today’s talks were constructive,” adding, “It was decided that the agency would continue its work in a technical and independent manner, and that Iran's activity would be in accordance with its commitments,” according to the official Iranian News Agency (IRNA). .

The Trump administration tried last week to re-impose UN sanctions on Iran, which include a ban on arms imports that expires in October under the 2015 deal.

But 13 countries out of 15 members of the UN Security Council - including major allies of the United States who are signatories to the nuclear agreement with Tehran - opposed the US move, claiming its nullity, given Washington's use of an agreed procedure under the nuclear deal from which it withdrew two years ago.