TEHRAN- The presidents of Iran and France on Saturday discussed measures to enhance relations and come to an agreement on a plan for future interaction, a senior government source in Tehran said.

Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian president’s deputy chief of staff for political affairs, said in a tweet that President Ebrahim Raisi and President Emanuel Macron spoke on the phone for 90 minutes.

The French president, he asserted, is eager to increase contact with Iran.

“The 2 sides discussed how to promote relations esp about ongoing negotiations & regional developments. They agreed on a roadmap for engagement,” the Iranian official tweeted.

By agreeing to a historic nuclear agreement with six countries, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran demonstrated to the world the benign nature of its nuclear program.

However, the future of the agreement was uncertain following Washington’s unilateral departure in May 2018 and re-imposition of sanctions against Tehran.

In April 2021, talks in Vienna, the capital of Austria, began with the goal of easing sanctions against Iran and determining how serious the United States was about rejoining the agreement.

However, the discussions have been put on moratorium since September 2022 due to Washington’s refusal to remove all sanctions and its reluctance to provide required guarantees that it will not quit the accord again.

In a statement at a session of the Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on June 7, Iran’s permanent representative at the United Nations office in Vienna Mohsen Naziri Asl urged the European governments to avoid “provocative and unconstructive attitudes” towards the Islamic Republic’s peaceful nuclear program and work towards the resolution of disputes.”