GENEVA: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Saturday there were divisions among the world powers attempting to negotiate a landmark deal with Tehran over its nuclear programme.

Speaking to reporters here, he said if no deal is reached with world powers on Saturday over Iran's nuclear programme, talks could continue in a week to 10 days.

“There was a possibility, and perhaps it still exists, that if there are good intentions we can reach an agreed-upon text.”

“If we reach a result by the end of today, it's reached. If not, the process will continue in one week or 10 days,” said the Iranian diplomat.

“We have reached an agreement on some questions, but on others there are still disagreements.... There are differences of opinion within the P5+1 group” of world powers, he was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency ISNA.

“Progress so far has not been too bad... but it is possible that we won't manage to finish tonight,” he said.

He stressed that a deal was in the drafting stage but there were still concerns being raised. He gave no details of what was in the putative accord.

“It is unlikely that the negotiations will continue tomorrow. They must finish tonight,” Zarif added. Iranian officials previously said the talks could move on to another round if they didn't finish on Saturday.

Zarif's comments followed initial optimism after US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian, British, French and German counterparts all rushed to Geneva to lend weight to the negotiations aimed at ending the decade-long dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.

But on the unscheduled third day of talks Saturday, cracks seemed to emerge among the group of world powers after French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius raised concerns and said Paris had not accepted an initial draft of the deal.

Barring a late breakthrough, talks are likely to end on Saturday without an agreement, but are expected to resume in a few weeks, Western diplomats said.

“Clearly, efforts are still going on,” one diplomat said.

‘Exceptional opportunity’

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged world powers not to miss an “exceptional opportunity” to reach an agreement in their ongoing nuclear talks in Geneva.

“I hope that the P5+1 group make the most out of this exceptional opportunity that the Iranian nation has offered to the international community, so that we can reach a positive result within a reasonable timeframe,” he was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency.