Iran's defence minister hopes for final deal on nuclear programme

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan told a security conference in Moscow on Thursday he hoped his country and six world powers would reach a final agreement on Tehran's nuclear programme. A preliminary deal was reached earlier this month. The sides have until the end of June to work out a detailed technical agreement under which Iran would curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. The West and Israel suspect Tehran of aiming to develop nuclear weapons. Dehghan reiterated Iran's line that its nuclear programme is purely civilian. "These accusations against Iran are absurd. We continue our cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and we believe it will help us work out a comprehensive agreement," he said. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; editing by Andrew Roche)