Iran wants new talks about the nuclear deal at UN general assembly in New York

Iran aims to rekindle talks about its broken nuclear-power deal with the West at a gathering of world leaders in New York later this month.

The Islamic Republic has already spoken to the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, about reviving negotiations over its contested nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani told reporters in a televised news conference on Monday.

Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian is expected to address the United Nations General Assembly in late September. It will be his first appearance at the annual gathering and comes as Iranian-armed groups Hamas and Hezbollah — both considered terrorist organizations by the U.S. — are fighting with Israel in Gaza and on Lebanon’s southern border respectively.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had a positive phone call with Borrell during which they agreed the U.N. summit presented a “good opportunity” for them address the nuclear negotiations, Kanaani said.

He didn’t say when the conversation took place, but Borrell said he spoke with Araghchi on the phone in an Aug. 22 statement posted on X.

Negotiations to restore the embattled nuclear agreement, originally struck between Iran and six world powers including the U.S. and E.U. in 2015, broke down more than two years ago during the hard-line administration of the Islamic Republic’s late president, Ebrahim Raisi.

Known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the deal was the result of a landmark negotiating process between Iran and the administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama. The accord was jettisoned three years later by his successor, Donald Trump, who also imposed a stringent sanctions regime on Tehran.

In response to those penalties, which have continued under President Joe Biden and include a global ban on imports of Iranian oil, Iran has ramped up its production of highly enriched uranium, the fissile material that can be used to fuel nuclear warheads.