Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said that he is ready to meet with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, Euractiv reports.

“We have to keep lines of communication open,” Borrell said, adding that this would be also because there was a new Iranian leadership. “That’s [also] why my political director attended the inauguration.”

“Iran is prepared to do its part in good faith [and] address issues of mutual interest and concern via respectful diplomacy,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht Ravanchi said, for his part, after talks with his European counterparts.