A large majority of US House of Representatives members wrote Secretary of State John Kerry expressing their concern Thursday over Iran's "refusal" to work with the United Nations nuclear watchdog.

With a November deadline fast approaching for Tehran and world powers to reach a deal on the Islamic republic's nuclear program, 354 of the House's 435 members warned that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been frustrated in its efforts to glean more information about the "potential military dimensions" of Iran's atomic efforts.

"We believe that Iran's willingness to fully reveal all aspects of its nuclear program is a fundamental test of Iran's intention to uphold a comprehensive agreement," wrote the lawmakers including House Speaker John Boehner and several Democrats.

"We remain deeply concerned with Iran's refusal to fully cooperate with the (IAEA)," they added.

"The only reasonable conclusion for its stonewalling of international investigators is that Tehran does indeed have much to hide."

In a September 5 report, the IAEA accused Tehran of failing to fully respond to questions about its nuclear program.

Iran had until August 25 to clarify five points laid out in an agreement with IAEA in May, but it has only initiated discussions on two of them.

The West believes Iran is seeking nuclear weapons capability, while Tehran insists its program is for civilian use.

Congress has often expressed doubt about the negotiations between Iran and world powers Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. A new round of nuclear talks will be held within the next two weeks, according to a senior Iranian official.

Some US senators tried this year to pass new sanctions that would enter into force if no final agreement is signed, but the effort failed amid opposition by President Barack Obama.

Iran top film directors launch nuclear deal campaign
Tehran (AFP) Oct 02, 2014 - Six top Iranian film directors have launched an Internet campaign for international agreement on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme, warning that "no deal" would be the worst possible outcome.

The appeal under the slogan "No2NoDeal" comes as Iran and world powers have set themselves a November 24 target for a comprehensive agreement on a peaceful Iranian nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of international sanctions.

Israel has said it would be better to reach no agreement than a deal that could allow the Islamic republic to develop a nuclear bomb, despite repeated Iranian assurances that its programme is for purely civilian uses.

Among the signatories of No2NoDeal are Abbas Kiarostami, winner of the 1997 Palme d'Or in Cannes for his film "Taste of Cherry", and Asghar Farhadi, whose work "Separation" won an Oscar for best foreign language movie in 2012.

The Internet campaign (http://no2nodeal.com) was initiated by the foreign ministry which is in charge of negotiations with world powers, due to resume by the end of October, one of the signatories told Mehr news agency.

By Thursday, the English-language appeal had attracted more than 1,500 likes on Facebook and 240 followers on Twitter.

"Before the end of the year, a simmering crisis that affects us all can be resolved," the filmmakers declare on their site. "Sanctions have hurt ordinary Iranians, not the Iranian nuclear programme.

"Special interests should not mislead us: there is no deal that is worse than 'no deal'," warn the six directors, some of whose work is banned in Iran.

Majid Majidi, another of the signatories, quoted by Mehr, said he had been contacted by the foreign ministry to help build up support for the negotiations but stressed that the aim was not to strike a deal "at any price".

The ministry itself, meanwhile, hailed what it called "the participatory and responsible attitude of internationally known Iranian artists" to win the backing of world public opinion for a deal.

The other three signatories are Mehdi Asgarpour, who heads Iran's House of Cinema guild, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, considered the "First Lady of Iranian Cinema", and Reza Mirkarimi, whose film "Today" is Iran's entry to the 2015 Academy Awards.