President Barack Obama will personally urge powerful US senators Tuesday to hold off on imposing more sanctions on Iran, to allow high stakes nuclear talks to succeed.

Obama will meet leading members of key Senate committees on the eve of the next round of talks between world powers and Iran in Geneva aimed at clinching an interim deal to boost diplomacy on ending a nuclear showdown.

The talks come as hawks on Capitol Hill in both parties mull slapping extra sanctions on Iran, reasoning that painful economic punishments prompted Tehran to negotiate and extra pain could prod it to capitulate.

But the White House fears that more sanctions will undermine Tehran's negotiating team in Geneva and bolster the case of hardliners in the Islamic republic who believe Washington is not serious about offering concessions for Iran to halt its nuclear program.

"It's the president's view that it's the right thing to do for Congress to pause so that we can test whether or not the Iranians are serious about resolving this issue diplomatically," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Obama will meet the Democratic chairmen and the top Republican members of the Senate committees on Banking, Foreign Relations, Armed Services, and Intelligence, Carney said.

The meeting will take place a day before Iran and the P5+1 group of nations begin a new round of talks at Geneva on Wednesday, after failing to clinch a deal in high-level, marathon negotiations earlier this month.

Kerry plays down talk of imminent Iran nuclear deal
Washington (AFP) Nov 18, 2013 - US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday sought to play down hopes that a deal on Iran's nuclear program could be reached before the end of the week.

"I have no specific expectations with respect to the negotiations in Geneva except that we will negotiate in good faith," Kerry said, after meeting with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu.

"We will try to get a first step agreement and hope that Iran will understand the importance of coming there prepared to create a document that can prove to the world that this is a peaceful program."

The P5+1 group -- the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany -- begin a new round of talks in Geneva on Wednesday, after failing to clinch a deal earlier this month.

Kerry, who will be represented by his deputy Wendy Sherman, said he had to be in Washington on Thursday for a congressional hearing.

But he did not rule out arranging a last minute flight to Geneva if a deal appeared in the offing, as he did earlier in the month.

"We'll see what develops, as to whether or not we can get close, and get this done," Kerry added.

Israel and the West suspect Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability alongside its uranium enrichment program, which Tehran insists is for entirely peaceful purposes.

Saudi rules out contact with Israel on Iran
Riyadh (AFP) Nov 18, 2013 - Saudi Arabia on Monday ruled out any contact with Israel, with which it has no diplomatic ties, after a British newspaper reported that the two countries could coordinate efforts against Iran.

The kingdom, which is Iran's chief regional rival, "has no relations or contacts with Israel of any kind or at any level," said a foreign ministry spokesman, quoted by state news agency SPA.

Under the headline "Two old foes unite against Tehran," Britain's Sunday Times newspaper said Israel and Saudi Arabia were working together on "contingency plans for a possible attack on Iran if its nuclear programme is not significantly curbed."

"As part of the growing cooperation, Riyadh is understood already to have given the go-ahead for Israeli planes to use its airspace in the event of an attack on Iran," it said.

The Saudi spokesman said the report was "completely unfounded".

Mainly Sunni Saudi has been locked in a decades-long rivalry with Shiite-dominated Iran, while Israel suspects Tehran is covertly pursuing a nuclear weapons programme and has not ruled out the use of military force.

Saudi Arabia has no diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

In 2002, the kingdom presented a peace initiative which offers Israel full diplomatic recognition from all Arab states in exchange for the return of occupied Arab lands.