Top EU diplomat heads to Tehran to revive nuclear deal

• EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will travel to Iran on Friday.
• Borrell will meet Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian.
• Tehran says its focus was on sanctions relief.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will travel to Iran on Friday to try to urge Tehran to seal an agreement to revive the nuclear deal with world powers signed in 2015 that the United States withdrew from but is now seeking to save.

Called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and struck by Iran and six major powers, Tehran limited its nuclear program to make it harder for it to get a bomb in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

"Josep Borrell will visit Iran on 24-25 June, as part of the ongoing efforts to bring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) back to full implementation," the EU said in a statement.

Borrell will meet Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian.

Tehran for its part said its focus was on sanctions relief, not directly mentioning the nuclear deal.

"Bilateral relations, regional, and international issues, as well as the latest status of sanctions lifting will be discussed during the visit, which is part of the ongoing consultations between Iran and the European Union," ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

The revived deal seemed near in March but talks were thrown into disarray in part by a dispute over whether the United States should remove Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards from its Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO] list.