FNA - Austrian Ambassador to Iran Stefan Scholz stressed that the European country will continue expansion of ties and cooperation with Iran despite the US sanctions.

"Cooperation between Iran and Austria dates back to over 500 years ago and they have established official relations for over 100 years and of course, they have faced many ups and downs and we hope that these interactions will continue in future," Scholz said in Tehran on Saturday.

He underlined the need for Iran to increase its soft power in West Asia, and said, "Iran and its partners intend to increase cooperation to further help those harmed in different natural disasters in the region."

In relevant remarks earlier this month, Scholz ascertained that facilitating financial and commercial ties between Iran and Austria, specially between the private sectors of the two countries, is atop the priorities of Vienna.

He added that easing economic and trade ties between Iran and Austria to promote relations between the two countries� private sectors is one of the Austrian government�s priorities.

�Anti-Iran sanctions have made trade relations with Iran a little difficult but they can be improved through efforts,� he said.

�Austria serves as representative of European Union in Iran, as it tries to send positive signals from Iran so that the Iranian nation would be able to benefit from achievements of JCPOA,� Scholz said.