Iranian President: West’s "excessive demands" may complicate nuke deal

PanARMENIAN.Net - President Hassan Rouhani has warned world powers trying to negotiate a deal over Iran's nuclear programme that they should not make "excessive demands," BBC News reported.

He was quoted by an official website as telling Russian President Vladimir Putin that they could "complicate the process towards a win-win agreement".

The Kremlin said Putin had stressed there was a "real chance" of a deal.

Representatives from Iran and the P5+1 group of nations will begin a new round of negotiations in Geneva on Wednesday.

Three days of high-level talks earlier this month failed to achieve a breakthrough.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Iran been unable to accept a deal "at that particular moment", while Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed divisions between Western powers and appeared to single out France for "gutting over half" of a U.S. draft deal.

Some reports said France's delegation had wanted to place tight restrictions on the heavy-water reactor being built at Arak; others that the Iranian government's insistence on formal recognition of its "right" to enrich uranium had been the major obstacle.

Iran stresses that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only, but world powers suspect it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.