The European Parliament has announced that it will send a delegation to Iran for the first time since 2007.

The head of the five-person delegation, Finnish member of the European Parliament Tarja Cronberg, told RFE/RL on December 11 that the delegation will be in Iran for a week and is due to meet with members of the Iranian parliament, Tehran’s mayor, representatives of nongovernmental organizations, and human rights activists.

Cronberg said the goal of the trip is get a dialogue started with Iranian officials.

The delegation hopes to meet the 2012 Sakharov Prize winners Jafar Panahi and Nasrin Sotoudeh even though no meeting with the pair has been confirmed yet.

By RFE/RL