Middle East Monitor:

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said yesterday he was ready to travel to Europe for talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, with France indicating European powers were also ready for dialogue if Tehran showed it was seriously engaged, Reuters reports.

Iran is looking to build on the momentum of nuclear negotiations with the United States that resume in Oman tomorrow and after talks with Russia and China earlier this week. Its reach out to the European powers that are party to a 2015 nuclear deal suggests Tehran is keeping its options open.

Since September, Tehran and the three European powers, known as the E3, have already held several rounds of discussions over their ties and the nuclear issue.

The most recent in March were held at the technical level, looking at the parameters of a future deal to secure a rollback of the nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions.

European diplomats had said they were seeking a new meeting with Iran, although that appeared to have been placed on ice when Tehran began indirect talks on its nuclear programme with US President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this month.

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