Frances foreign minister told his newly-appointed Iranian counterpart in a telephone call that it was urgent for Tehran to return to nuclear negotiations immediately, the French foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. "The minister underlined the importance and the urgency of an immediate resumption of negotiations, interrupted by Iran since June," the foreign ministry said after the conversation between Jean-Yves Le Drian and Hossein Amirabdollahian. Le Drian expressed his concern with regard to all the nuclear activities carried out by Iran in violation of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Since April, Iran and six powers have tried to work out how Tehran and Washington can both return to compliance with the nuclear pact, which former US President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018 and reimposed harsh sanctions on Tehran. In reaction, Tehran has violated the nuclear limits of the accord, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear work in exchange for lifting international sanctions.