TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday that obstacles to expand relations between Iran and the European Union should be removed.

“The European Union should not be influenced by the other countries and powers’ actions in cooperating with Iran,” he said during a meeting in Tehran with Elzbieta Bienkowska, the EU commissioner for industry and entrepreneurship.

Highlighting the need to use the situation created with the implementation of the JCPOA, the official name for the nuclear deal, Zarif said there are many capacities in Iran and the EU’s private and public sectors for deepening cooperation.

For her part, Bienkowska called for expansion of cooperation between Iran and the EU.

The EU seeks to establish long term cooperation with Iran in various spheres, she said.

She added the EU attaches great importance to increase in cooperation in tourism industry.

The EU official also met separately with Iranian Tourism and Handicraft Organization Director Masoud Soltanifar on Tuesday.

Iran and the 5+1 group - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany - finalized the text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna in July 2015 and the nuclear deal took effect in January 2016.

The European Union, represented by its chief diplomats Catherine Ashton and later Federica Mogherini, also was a key partner in nuclear talks with Iran. It actually represented the 5+1 group in the talks with Iran.

NA/PA