After growing hopes that a deal on Iran's nuclear programme seemed plausible, the talks in Geneva have ended without an agreement on convincing Iran to suspend its nuclear enrichment programme in exchange for temporary relief from sanctions. Earlier, on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had cut-short his Middle East trip to attend the Geneva Conference. With Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reaching Geneva on Saturday, speculation grew that a deal with Iran might be imminent.

In talks with top diplomats from U.S., France, UK, Germany, Russia, China and EU, Iranian diplomats had fuelled hope telling media outlets that sides were in the process of drafting an agreement on Friday.

The goal of the negotiations was to arrive at a "first step" agreement as the U.S. termed it. The objective of the "first step" agreement was to ease tensions between the world powers and Iran. It would relieve fears that Iran would be involved in enrichment to build nuclear weapons. The focus then, was to work out a final or longer-term deal over the next six months.

Negotiations, however, failed to secure stoppage of Iran's nuclear enrichment programme in exchange for temporary relief from international sanctions.

Holding out hopes for a diplomatic solution, European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton and Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said the talks will resume in three weeks, on Nov. 20.

A technician checks cables before a news conference after three days of closed-door nuclear talks between Iran and Western countries at the CICG in Geneva November 9, 2013. Barring a last-minute breakthrough, talks between Iran and six world powers on curbing Tehran's nuclear ambitions were set to end without an agreement on Saturday as a split emerged between France and the other Western powers, diplomats said. (REUTERS/Denis Balibouse)

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is reported to have told a French radio station that the agreement was stalled by Iran's opposition to halting work on a nuclear facility and downgrade some of its 20 percent-enriched uranium to 5 percent, which could still be used as nuclear reactor fuel.

Importantly, an agreement to halt uranium enrichment would have been a major achievement for international powers to defuse Iran's nuclear programme.

Speaking to media persons, Mr Kerry however warned, the window of diplomacy will not stay open forever.