DHAKA: US state secretary John Kerry has told lawmakers any new sanctions against Iran would risk ruining talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

He told a Senate banking committee that the US might lose negotiating partners if it imposed economic penalties, reports the BBC.

The panel has been considering a fresh package but legislators are divided on the measure.

Kerry has told the BBC that Iran and world powers had come ‘extremely close’ to a deal at the weekend.

Before Wednesday’s closed-door meeting with senators, Washington’s top diplomat told reporters, ‘What we`re asking everybody to do is calm down, look hard at what can be achieved and what the realities are’.

None of the differences between the so-called P5+1 - the US, UK, France, Russia and China plus Germany, and Iran over its nuclear programme are big enough to prevent agreement, Kerry has previously said.

BDST: 1433 HRS, NOV 14, 2013
RoR/BSK