European External Action Service (EEAS) Deputy Secretary General Enrique Mora and Iranian Deputy at Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi wait for the start of a meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria April 17, 2021. EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via REUTERS

Iran’s talks with world powers aimed at reinstating a 2015 nuclear deal will resume on Nov. 29, its top nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, said on Wednesday, as Western concerns over Tehran’s nuclear advances grow.

“In a phone call with @enriquemora_ , we agreed to start the negotiations aiming at removal of unlawful & inhumane sanctions on 29 November in Vienna,” Bagheri Kani wrote in a tweet.

In April, Tehran and six powers started to discuss ways to salvage the nuclear pact, which has eroded since 2018, when then-President Donald Trump withdrew from it and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to breach various limits on uranium enrichment set by the pact.

But negotiations have been on hold since the June election in Iran of hardline President Ebrahim Raisi, who is expected to take a tough approach when the talks resume in Vienna.

In Washington, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the United States hoped Tehran would return to the talks in good faith and ready to negotiate, saying Washington still believed it was possible to quickly reach and implement an understanding on a mutual return to compliance with the deal.

Formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement called for Iran to take steps to restrict its nuclear program in return for relief from US, EU and UN economic sanctions.