TEHRAN — IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said on Tuesday that he will seek to “deepen” dialogue with Iran to “clarify a number of issues” and find a “common ground”.

Grossi made the remarks in a joint press conference with Iranian nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami in Tehran.

“Couple of months ago, when I was here, we agreed with Dr. Eslami that we would be returning to continue in our joint work in clarifying a number of issues…, and also to continue and deepen our dialogue with the government of Iran.”

Grossi, who arrived in Tehran on Monday night, also said, “He will have intensive talks, and hopes to end the day on a positive note.”

Grossi plans to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on Tuesday.

“… as you know I will have the honor of meeting the Foreign Minister in a couple of hours later today.”

He added, “Our work has been intense in the course of morning, and we are continuing at this point our negotiations with a view to finding common ground.

There are a number of issues that we are working and as the president (Eslami) just said it is very important that we put this in the perspective of the peaceful nuclear program of Iran at a time where climate change demands we work together, that we add clean nuclear energy to the matrices around the world, and as was discussed just a few days ago in Glasgow. So we will now multiply our efforts with a view to concluding our exchanges today in a positive note.”

The visit to Tehran by the IAEA director comes a few days before Iran and the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal -JCPOA- meet in Vienna to explore ways to revitalize the agreement to end the illegal sanctions on Iran.