WASHINGTON – The United States and Iran traded heated accusations Monday over who was to blame for the failure of the latest international talks to limit Tehran's nuclear program, even as they insisted a deal remains possible.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry insisted it was the Iranians, and not the French, whose last-minute objections Saturday stalled a preliminary deal that diplomats hoped would lead to a final settlement of the nuclear dispute after a decade of stalemate.

"The French signed off on it, we signed off on it," Kerry said Monday in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai, where he sought to reassure Arab allies about the nuclear negotiations. "Iran couldn't take it."

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, soon fired back. He said most of the delay during the three-day session in Geneva grew from disagreements between the six world powers — the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany — that are negotiating with Iran.

France called out

Zarif appeared to suggest, without naming names, that France's objections had been particularly assertive.

"Most of the talks were focused on alleviating the dispute among the (six) powers," Zarif told state-run Channel 2 television in Iran. "Perhaps one country tried to express its opinion over the negotiations."

Turning to Twitter, he posted, "No amount of spinning can change what happened within the (six powers) in Geneva from 6 p.m. Thursday to 5:45 Saturday." He added: "But it can erode confidence."

Kerry to testify in Congress

Kerry will testify Wednesday in Congress in an effort to stop unhappy lawmakers from imposing new sanctions on Iran for fear such moves could disrupt diplomacy, if not drive Tehran from the bargaining table.

The White House warned Congress on Tuesday that slapping new sanctions on Iran could sink international negotiations to curb Iran's nuclear program.

Press secretary Jay Carney said Americans are in a deeply antiwar mood and implied that voters might turn their anger on lawmakers if a failure of diplomacy leads to military action to prevent Iran from getting the bomb.

"The American people do not want a march to war," Carney told reporters."