Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi is wanting to chat with new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran on Sunday, diplomatic sources said Saturday.

The meeting with Raisi, an anti-U.S. conservative hardliner who took office this month, comes as Iran faces a deadlock in nuclear discussions with the United States and Europe. Japan, in the interim, has constructed well disposed binds with Tehran while likewise being aligned with Washington.

Motegi is out traveling to the Middle East that additionally saw him visit Israel, another country that recently went through changes in government.

In the wake of showing up in Tehran on Saturday, Motegi is relied upon to hold chats with Raisi and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday. He is additionally wanting to meet with Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a former Iranian deputy foreign minister who is set to succeed Zarif under the Raisi administration, the sources said.

Raisi has required the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Iran, which have been reinforced since 2018 when then, at that point President Donald Trump’s administration singularly left the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

Under the deal, Iran and six significant powers agreed to restrict Tehran’s nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief.

While demonstrating he will proceed with indirect discussions with the U.S. administration of President Joe Biden, Raisi’s reluctance to think twice about nuclear issues might heighten the showdown between the two nations.

There are calls within the Iranian government to ask that Japan to mediate and push the United States to ease the sanctions, as indicated by the sources.

Since getting to work, Raisi has held phone converses with French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and has met with Indian External Illicit relationships Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in person.