UN urges diplomatic accord on Iran's n-programme

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear programme at an early date.

Ban made the appeal at a meeting Thursday with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, which was held before the resumption of talks in New York between Iran and the six world powers, Xinhua reported.

The talks between Iran and the P5+1 group -- Britain, France, China, Germany, Russia the US -- over the nuclear issue are resuming after a two-month break.

In July, Iran and the six countries agreed to extend negotiations over the former's disputed nuclear programme for another four months till Nov 24 as they could not narrow down the significant gaps on core issues during the past six months.

An interim deal, which took effect Jan 20, was designed to buy time for negotiations.

Under the deal, Iran would suspend some sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for a limited sanction relief.

In recent months, the talks for a final deal stalled as the parties were still far apart on some core issues, such as Iran's uranium enrichment capacity.