Iran and the European Union have agreed to begin high-level talks, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on July 28 after meeting European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Tehran.
Mogherini arrived for a one-day visit to discuss the implementation of the nuclear deal, which aims to curb Iran’s nuclear program in return for the easing of sanctions, state TV reported.
Zarif said the talks will begin “in the near future.”
"We have agreed to hold high-level talks between Iran and the European Union over different issues, including energy cooperation ... human rights, confronting terrorism, and regional issues," Zarif said at a joint news conference with Mogherini.
Zarif also called on the United States to implement the nuclear deal in order to “remove the mistrust of the Iranian people.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has warned members of Congress that walking away from the nuclear deal reached with Iran would mean giving Iran a “green light” to return to its enrichment efforts.
“The alternative to the deal we've reached isn't a better deal... some kind of unicorn fantasy that contemplates Iran's complete capitulation," Kerry said.
Testifying publicly before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Kerry told skeptical members that the Iran nuclear deal was not intended to reform the country’s hard-line regime but prevent the building of an atomic bomb.
Joined by two other members of President Barack Obama's cabinet, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, Kerry defended the Iran nuclear deal in his second appearance before Congress in a week.
The Republican-controlled Congress has until September 17 to review the deal, which aims to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from international economic sanctions.