West promises 'no bad deal'

Western powers negotiating an agreement with Iran on its nuclear activity will not accept "a bad deal", UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said.

Ministers from France, Germany, and the UK along with the US Secretary of State met in London amid increased urgency to reach agreement by the end of March.

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Six world powers want to ensure that Iran cannot develop nuclear weapons - something it denies doing.

Speaking after Saturday's talks in London, Hammond said: "We will not do a bad deal that does not meet our red lines."

An official statement from the meeting said: "We agreed that substantial progress had been made (with Iran) in key areas although there are still important issues on which no agreement has yet been possible. Now is the time for Iran, in particular, to take difficult decisions."

Earlier, Iran's president spoke positively about reaching agreement. "There is nothing that cannot be resolved," although some differences still remain, Iranian state media quoted President Hassan Rouhani as saying.

The four powers, along with China and Russia, make up the so-called P5+1 which is negotiating with Iran to scale back sensitive nuclear activities in return for an easing of international economic sanctions.

Both Iran and the Western powers have set themselves deadlines of 31 March for a political framework agreement and 30 June for a final deal.

But in a reminder of more hardline attitudes within the Iranian leadership, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Saturday against submitting to foreign demands in order to achieve economic growth.

More talks are scheduled to resume next week.