Iran said talks with parties to the 2015 nuclear accord would resume in a few weeks, although there would be no meetings with world powers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this week.

The statement by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh came as U.S. President Joe Biden pledged in an address before the UN General Assembly that the Washington will return to the nuclear deal 'in full' if Tehran does the same and will 'engage Iran diplomatically.'

Khatibzadeh, quoted by the state news agency IRNA, said the Vienna talks 'will resume soon and over the next few weeks,' adding that 'every meeting requires prior coordination and the preparation of an agenda.'

Iran held six rounds of talks with world powers in Vienna aimed at reviving the nuclear accord, which was abandoned by former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018. The talks were suspended in June when Iran elected hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi.

Trump reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to gradually breach its commitments under the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The United States, China, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, and Iran are the original parties to the JCPOA.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who is leading talks on behalf of European powers, said on September 20 that he will meet with his new Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, on the sidelines of the UN this week.

'After the elections the new presidency asked for the delay in order to fully take stock of the negotiations and understand better everything about this very sensitive file,' Borrell said. 'The summer has already passed by and we expect that the talks can be resuming soon in Vienna.'

With reporting by AFP, IRNA, and Reuters

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Republished with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Washington DC 20036