China urges Iran and Western nations to have more confidence in buckling down to negotiations for a preliminary deal over Tehran's nuclear program, after they wrapped up a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

Iranian negotiators met with representatives from China, Germany, Russia, France, Britain and the United States in Geneva on Sunday but so far fell short of sorting out significant differences.

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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said Sunday's talks were pragmatic and serious and all parties put forward points over big issues at stake.

He said the negotiations "yielded some progress" but major differences remained.

As a new round of talks is about to start, China is laying out the groundwork for a more positive role pushing the talks forward, Hong said.

He called on negotiators to work together for an acceptable broad deal as soon as possible.

The foreign minister of Iran, Mohammad-Javad Zarif, said the next round of negotiations would happen on the sidelines of the meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next week.

Western countries suspect Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program.

Iran denies the accusations, insisting its atomic program is for peaceful purposes.

In an initial deal between Iran and the five intervening countries in November two years ago, Tehran agreed to suspending certain nuclear operations in exchange for a limited lifting of sanctions, with all sides hoping to forge a final all-inclusive deal by July 20.

But talks throughout the year failed to reach an agreement. Tehran and world powers agreed to extend the negotiations to July this year.

On February 24, Iran agreed to hasten cooperation with the United Nations nuclear agency, noting the talks in Geneva made some progress but there was still a "long way to go."

After talks with International Atomic Energy Agency head, Yukiya Amano, Iran's deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said his country would expedite cooperation and fix unresolved issues over Iran's nuclear program.