Iran Nuclear Deal Will Not Just 'Buy Time,' Says Kerry

Secretary of State John Kerry vowed Wednesday that the United States would not let any deal with Iran become a ploy to buy time to increase its nuclear capability.

As talks between western powers and Iran resumed in Geneva, Kerry said: "We will not allow this agreement, should it be reached... to buy time or to allow for the acceptance of an agreement that does not properly address our core, fundamental concerns."

The top U.S. diplomat was speaking after holding top-level talks at the State Department with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and their Australian counterparts.

Kerry said the negotiations continuing in Geneva were the "best chance in a decade... to halt progress and roll back Iran's program."

He was speaking after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a visit to Moscow seen as a last-minute bid to influence the emerging nuclear deal with Iran strongly opposed by the Jewish state.

"We would all like a diplomatic solution, but it needs to be a real solution," said Netanyahu, adding that this would involve Iran halting nuclear work in the same way as Syria was allowing its chemical weapons arsenal to be destroyed.

The draft deal being negotiated in Geneva is believed to offer some limited relief to the crippling sanctions against Iran in return for it halting parts of its nuclear program.