Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney on Tuesday called for "engagement with all the key players" in the 2015 nuclear agreement in order to build trust in order to revive the deal, the Xinhua news agency reported.
"What is required now is engagement with all of the key players who are responsible for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in the first place P5+1 structure," Coveney was quoted as having said in an interview with Iran's official news agency IRNA.
He added that it is necessary now to provide "reassurance to Iran and to others" so that the JCPOA process can move on in the current political environment.
Coveney visited Tehran earlier this week as part of his role as a "facilitator" for the United Nations Security Council resolution that enshrined the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers.
During the visit, Coveney met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who urged Europe to
"I am here to reassure people that the European Union, the E3 ... are very committed to making this agreement work in the future," Coveney told IRNA on Tuesday.
The challenge now, he added, is for senior politicians and decision makers in the "key countries involved" to find a way of building sufficient trust for "negotiations to proceed."
Iran has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 deal in response to former US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in May of 2018.
In one of these moves, the Islamic Republic ended the implementation of the Additional Protocol of the 2015 nuclear deal that allows the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to carry out snap-inspections at sites not declared to the agency.
The European parties to the agreement – Britain, France and Germany – had planned to introduce a resolution condemning Iran at the meeting of the IAEA board of governors, but dropped the resolution, citing signs of "good faith" on the Iranian side to explain the decision.
US President Joe Biden has signaled his readiness to return to the deal, but insists that Iran first return to all its nuclear commitments. Iran, for its part, demands Washington take the first step by scrapping the sanctions.