Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday denied US claims that the Islamic republic had scuttled nuclear talks in Geneva, pointing instead to France as the culprit.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Abu Dhabi on Monday Iran had balked at the Geneva talks just as world powers were closing in on a deal to curb Tehran's nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.

"The P5+1 was unified on Saturday when we presented our proposal to the Iranians... But Iran couldn't take it," said Kerry, who took part in the high-level talks.

Zarif, on his Twitter account, alluded to comments by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who has been pilloried in the Iranian media after reports emerged that he scuppered a potential deal.

"Mister Secretary of State, is it Iran which changed half the text of the Americans on Thursday and made contrary statements on Friday morning?" Zarif asked.

Late Monday, Zarif, played down Kerry's remarks.

"If we want to be fair, sometimes these comments are made to address certain concerns, or those of the hosting country," the foreign minister said.

Fabius joined the talks on Friday and immediately issued a statement saying that while there had been progress in the talks, "nothing has been agreed yet".

The following day he was even less upbeat.

"There is an initial draft that we do not accept," Fabius told France Inter radio Saturday morning.

"There are some points on which we are not satisfied," he added, citing the "extremely prolific" Arak nuclear reactor and the question of uranium enrichment.

The talks, which saw the foreign ministers of the P5+1 group -- Britain, France, the United States, Russia and China plus Germany -- rush to Geneva in hopes of finally concluding a deal with Iran, ended inconclusively early on Sunday.

They will resume in Geneva on November 20.

Diplomats insist a deal is close despite the lack of breakthrough at the weekend.

IMF, Iran discuss need to beat inflation, grow economy
Washington (AFP) Nov 11, 2013 - The International Monetary Fund said Monday that it held high-level discussions with Iranian officials on the need to combat inflation and undertake reforms to get the economy growing.

The IMF said the Iranian economy, which has been crippled by UN-backed sanctions over its nuclear program, faces domestic challenges as well and that the new government was aware of the need of reforms.

Ten days of discussions that ended Thursday "focused on the need for Iran to tackle high inflation and restore economic growth, as well as on the need for Iran to begin addressing long-standing policy and structural challenges in the economy," the Fund said in a statement.

Those challenges include reforming subsidies, the banking and corporate sectors, and monetary and fiscal policy frameworks, the IMF said.

The brief statement focused on domestic policy issues and suggested the authorities were aware of some of the things they needed to do.

But it also made a glancing reference to the impact of the sanctions, set by a coalition of leading economies, which have tightly constrained Tehran's ability to export oil and other products and to purchase many products and services from abroad.

"The authorities' understanding of the challenges and the high expectations of several sectors in the economy provide a timely opportunity for advancing such reforms, notwithstanding the difficult external environment," the institution said.

The lack of ability to earn foreign exchange has sent the Iran rial plummeting since 2011 and pushed the prices of many household staples like rice, cooking oil and chicken out of reach for many people.

Recent official Iran figures put inflation at 39 percent, and Economy Minister Ali Tayyebnia warned in August that the official figure of 3.5 million unemployed, or 11.2 percent of the workforce, could jump with a wave of young people on the verge of entering the job market.

The election in June of reputed moderate President Hassan Rouhani has brought hopes for a deal with Western powers on restraining Iran's nuclear program that would allow the sanctions to be lifted and the economy to recover.

Talks last week in Geneva came close to a breakthrough, and will resume on November 20 in hopes of achieving a deal.

Meanwhile the IMF said it will undertake a formal review of Iran's economy, known as an Article IV Consultation, early next year, the first such review in two years.