TEHRAN – Iran said Friday
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell would travel to Tehran later in the day for discussions on efforts to revive the stalled Vienna talks on removing U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Borrell would arrive in the Iranian capital at night before meeting Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement.
“The visit, which is part of ongoing consultations between Iran and the European Union, will focus on bilateral relations, some regional and international issues, as well as the latest status of negotiations to lift sanctions,” said the statement.
The talks in Vienna, which began in April last year, aim to return the United States to the nuclear deal, including through the removal of sanctions on Iran.
The negotiations have been stalled since March amid differences between Tehran and Washington, most notably due to a demand by Iran to undo its past wrongs.
Amir-Abdollahian on Wednesday said Iran was “serious” about reaching an agreement in the negotiations.
“The nuclear negotiations train has reached difficult stops as they near the end,” he said. “I hope we can reach the final point of the agreement in the near future with realism from the American side.”
Also on Wednesday, Enrique Mora, the European Union’s coordinator for the talks, posted on

Twitter a picture of himself together with Borrell and U.S. negotiator Robert Malley in Brussels.
“In depth conversation about #JCPOA and regional perspectives in the wider Middle East. Malley reiterated firm U.S. commitment to come back to the deal,” he wrote.
The United States unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 under then president Donald Trump, before imposing waves of draconian sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday said his country has urged the U.S. to respond positively to Iran’s “reasonable” concerns in the year-long Vienna talks.
Iran’s ambassador to China, Muhammad Keshavarzzadeh, said that Wang made the remarks in a phone talk with Amir-Abdollahian.
Earlier in the week, Tehran again blamed Washington for lack of progress in talks, saying it is ready to resume negotiations to achieve a “good deal”.
A recent U.S.-sponsored resolution adopted by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) against Iran put the chances of reaching a deal further in doubt.
In his phone talks with China’s Wang Yi, the Iranian foreign minister denounced the resolution as politicized and unconstructive.
In reaction to the measure, Iran switched off a number of IAEA’s surveillance cameras, which it had voluntarily allowed in a “goodwill gesture”.