By Laurence Norman

Iran will return to nuclear talks before the end of November, its chief negotiator said on Wednesday, paving the way for the first talks since June on restoring the nuclear deal.

U.S. and European hopes of reviving the nuclear deal have faded sharply in recent months since hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi took office. Iran had repeatedly said it would continue the negotiations but refused to set a date.

The Biden administration has set the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal as a key foreign policy goal and said it hopes to use it as a platform for negotiating a longer, stronger deal with Iran.

However, senior U.S. officials have warned time is running short for reviving the deal given the progress Iran has made on key nuclear technology.

The U.S. quit the nuclear deal in May 2018 under President Trump and reimposed sweeping sanctions on Tehran. Since then, Iran has gradually breached most of the nuclear restrictions in the deal.

Write to Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2021 11:28 ET (15:28 GMT)

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