The United States needs to make a decision to revive the Iran nuclear deal, Tehran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday before Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian's visit to Russia on Tuesday.

"We are currently having a breather from the nuclear talks," said Khatibzadeh, adding that Abdollahian will "go to Moscow on Tuesday" to continue discussions on the nuclear deal.

"We are not at a point of announcing an agreement now since there are some important open issues that need to be decided upon by Washington," said the Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

On Friday, Josep Borrell, EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, announced a pause in the negotiations, saying that "a pause in Vienna talks is needed, due to external factors." 

Iran signed the nuclear deal with the world powers in July 2015. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran. 

Since April 2021, eight rounds of talks have been held in Vienna between Iran and major parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan updated of Action (JCPOA), namely Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, in a bid to revive the deal. The U.S. has been indirectly involved in the talks. 

Over the past days, reports from Vienna suggested that the negotiators were "close" to an agreement with few key issues remaining, which required "political decisions" of the parties. 

(with input from agencies)