Zarif stressed while his country was 'ready to strike a balanced and good deal', its P5 plus 1 negotiating partners had 'to make a critical and historic choice: agreement or coercion.'

In politics as in life you can’t gain at the expense of others. Such gains are always short-lived, the minister said.

Zarif pointed out that despite some differences both sides had 'never been closer to a lasting outcome.'

'I’m in Vienna to put a long overdue end to an unnecessary crisis. At this eleventh hour, despite some differences that remain we have never been closer to a lasting outcome but there is no guarantee, Zarif noted.

'Getting to yes requires the courage to compromise, the self-confidence to be flexible, the maturity to be reasonable, the wisdom to set aside illusions and the audacity to break old habits. Some stubbornly believe that military and economic coercion can ensure submission.

They still insist on spending other people’s money or sacrificing other people’s children for their own delusional designs, he added.

Zarif said it was his imprression that Iran's 'negotiating partners have recognised that coercion and pressure never lead to lasting solutions but to more conflict and further hostility.'

'I see hope because I see emergence of reason over illusion. I sense that my negotiating partners have recognised that coercion and pressure never lead to lasting solutions but to more conflict and further hostility. They have seen that eight years of aggression by Saddam Hussein and his patrons did not bring the Iranian nation that stood all alone to its knees,' he said.

'And now they realise that the most indiscriminate and unjust economic sanctions against my country have achieved absolutely none of their declared objectives but instead have harmed innocents and antagonised a peaceful and forgiving nation. They have opted for the negotiating table. But they still need to make a critical and historic choice: agreement or coercion,' he added.

Zarif made clear that a 'balanced and good' nuclear agreement would pave the way for 'addressing other important common challenges.'

'Our common threat today is the growing menace of violent extremism and outright barbarism. Iran was the first to rise

to the challenge and propose to make confronting this threat a global priority when it launched world against violence and extremism,' Iran's top diplommat said.

'The menace we’re facing and I say we because no one is spared is embodied by the hooded men who are ravaging the cradle of civlization.

To deal with this new challenge, new approaches are badly needed.

Iran has long been at the forefront in the fight against extremism, he went on to say.

Zarif urged its counterparts to turn their focus to this challenge and 'devote their resources to this existential battle.'