NEW YORK — Not since Vienna served as the venue for negotiations early last month have the key players to the Iranian nuclear agreement been in the same city. This week, many of them will be in New York, where any signs of contact will be closely watched for hints of progress in the stalled talks.

A day after his arrival to attend the UN General Assembly, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met Tuesday with French President Emmanuel Macron in what marked Raisi's first face-to-face meeting with the leader of a major Western country since his election in June 2021. 

Raisi also sat down Tuesday with European Council President Charles Michel. Those in attendance for their meeting included European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, EU nuclear talks coordinator Enrique Mora and chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani. 

Efforts to revive the tattered nuclear pact have reached a stalemate, and sources familiar with the negotiations between Iran and world powers were downbeat that diplomatic contacts on the sidelines of the UN summit would yield a breakthrough on the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).