Iran's Foreign Ministry says Josep Borrell, the European Union's top diplomat, will arrive late on June 24 for a visit in an attempt to breathe new life into talks on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal with global powers.
"Bilateral relations, regional and international issues, as well as the latest status of sanctions lifting will be discussed during the visit, which is part of the ongoing consultations between Iran and the European Union,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said.
The deal began to fall apart when then-U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out in 2018.
Since then, Washington has imposed crippling sanctions on Tehran, while the Iranian government, which denies that its nuclear program seeks to build a bomb, has responded by backing away from some of its commitments laid out in the deal.
Iran has been engaged for more than a year in negotiations with Britain, Germany, France, Russia, and China directly -- and the United States indirectly -- to revive the deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
A revamped deal was reportedly close in March, but the talks in Vienna then abruptly stalled in April with Tehran and Washington blaming each other for failing to take the necessary political decisions to settle remaining issues.
In early June, Tehran said it had started removing 27 surveillance cameras from nuclear sites across the country, further reducing the West's ability to monitor Iran's nuclear program.
The EU's nuclear talks envoy, Enrique Mora, posted a photo late on June 23 of a dinner he was attending in Brussels with Borrell and Robert Malley, the U.S. special envoy to the talks.
Mora said Malley reiterated Washington's "firm commitment to come back to the deal."