In his response on Monday, Zarif slammed Kerry, writing on his Twitter account that it was the western side - not Iran - that backed out of the deal.

"Mr. Secretary, was it Iran that gutted over half of US draft Thursday night? And publicly commented against it Friday morning?" Zarif tweeted.

He added that Iran is "committed to constructive engagement. Interaction on equal footing key to achieve shared objectives."

Earlier on Monday, Kerry, who spoke during a visit to the United Arab Emirates, said "the P5+1 (6 world powers negotiating with Iran) was unified on Saturday when we presented our proposal to the Iranians... But Iran couldn't take it, at that particular moment they weren't able to accept."

The talks, ended Saturday, to be restarted in Geneva again November 20.

Kerry's assessment of Iranian responsibility conflicted with earlier Iranian accusations that French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was the one who blocked the deal.

Republican lawmakers in the US, foremost among them Senator John McCain, on Sunday praised France for preventing a bad deal with Iran.

The Israeli regime has been warning against a deal with Iran that would see some of the sanctions on it being lifted.

The West and its allies accuse Iran of acquiring nuclear weapons, but Iran has repeatedly said it wants nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

NTJ/BA