German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Saturday that “now is the moment of truth” to determine whether Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers can be salvaged, The Associated Press reported.

He called on the Iranian leadership to make a choice.

Scholz told participants at the annual Munich Security Conference that Iran nuclear talks have come a long way over the past 10 months and “all elements for a conclusion of the negotiations are on the table.”

“We now have the opportunity to reach an agreement that makes it possible for sanctions to be lifted,” Scholz said. “At the same time, it’s the case that if we don’t succeed very quickly in this, the negotiations threaten to fail.”

“The Iranian leadership now has a choice,” the chancellor said. “Now is the moment of truth.”

Iran has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal it signed with world powers in response to former US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in May of 2018.

It has held several rounds of indirect negotiations with the Biden administration on a possible return to the deal.

On Thursday, a US official said a nuclear deal is possible within days if Iran “shows seriousness”.

Stating that "substantial progress has been made in the last week," a State Department spokesperson told AFP that "if Iran shows seriousness, we can and should reach an understanding on mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA within days.”

And on Friday, a senior European Union official said that a US-Iranian deal to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear agreement was close but success depended on the political will of those involved.

"I expect an agreement in the coming week, the coming two weeks or so. I think we have now on the table text that are very, very close to what is going to be the final agreement," the official said, according to the Reuters news agency.