REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TEHRAN -- World powers have assured Tehran they are "serious" about a nuclear deal clinched in Geneva and are keen to take it forward, local media Thursday reported Iran's top diplomat as saying.

The reports said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had received a call from EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, chief negotiator for the so-called P5+1 powers, to stress they were committed to the deal.

"Ms. Ashton contacted me to reassure (us) that the P5+1 is serious about implementing its commitments and expressed hope of making progress in the work," the official IRNA news agency reported Zarif as saying.

Iran and the P5+1 group -- the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany -- reached a landmark deal in Geneva on November 24 on Tehran's disputed nuclear drive which the West suspects has military dimensions, despite Tehran's denial.

Under the accord, which lasts for six months, Iran pledged to limit uranium enrichment to low fissile purities. It will also lower the purity of its stockpile of medium-enriched material, which is relatively easy to convert to weapons-grade, or convert it to another form.

In exchange for the freeze, Iran will receive some $7 billion (5.2 billion euros) in sanctions relief and the powers promised to impose no new embargo measures for six months if Tehran sticks to the accord.

Iran and the P5+1 powers are expected to meet at expert-level in Vienna on December 9 and 10 to pave the way for full implementation of the deal.

Tehran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Reza Najafi, indicated that Iran's six-month freeze of its nuclear programme would start by early January.

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