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.

US vows to push human rights in Iran
Washington (AFP) Dec 04, 2013 - The United States warned Wednesday it would keep pushing Iran on human rights and universal Internet and social media access even as it chases a nuclear deal and improved relations with Tehran.

National Security Advisor Susan Rice said that Iran should allow a visit by the UN rapporteur for human rights in the country and said Washington would continue to call for freedom of expression.

She accused Iran, along with North Korea, another state locked in a nuclear showdown with Washington, of stoking global tensions to prolong repressive domestic rule.

"In Iran, as we test the potential for a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear issue, we are mindful that another key test is whether we begin to see progress on human rights," Rice told a conference organized by the Human Rights First group.

"Our sanctions on Iran's human rights abusers will continue and so will our support for the fundamental rights of all Iranians," Rice said.

"The Iranian people deserve the same right to express themselves online and through social media as their leaders enjoy."

Washington has frequently called on the Iranian government to broaden access to social media, as some senior leaders embrace Twitter and use it to comment on events such as the international nuclear talks in Geneva.

Some opponents of US President Barack Obama have complained that the issue of human rights in Iran has not been at the center of the nuclear talks between world powers and the Islamic Republic.

The president's critics also accuse him of an insufficiently robust intervention to support anti-government demonstrations in Tehran in 2009 after disputed elections.

Initially, Obama sought to avoid the United States becoming embroiled in the protests, reasoning that he could worsen the lot of demonstrators if they were seen as clients of Washington, Iran's arch foe.

But as the crackdown intensified on supporters of election candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, Obama toughened the US line.