Iran’s foreign minister says the Israeli prime minister is trying to have a disruptive effect on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear negotiations with world powers.

“He’s trying to,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday, asked by the CNN if Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to have such effect on the talks.

“But I don’t think trying to create tension and conflict helps anybody,” the Iranian top diplomat noted.

Also on Tuesday, Netanyahu addressed the US Congress, calling on the United States not to negotiate “a very bad deal” with Iran over its nuclear energy program. He said, “We’ve been told for over a year that no deal is better than a bad deal. Well this is a bad deal, a very bad deal. We’re better off without it.”

Iran and P5+1 – Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany – are negotiating to narrow their differences over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program ahead of a July 1 deadline.

Netanyahu said that it is not true that “the only alternative to this deal is war.”

“The alternative to this deal is a much better deal. A better deal that doesn’t leave Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure and such a short breakout point,” he added.

He said that the ongoing nuclear negotiations would provide Iran “with a short breakout time for a bomb.”

“According to the deal not a single nuclear facility would be demolished,” he said.

“So this deal won’t change Iran for the better, it will only change the Middle East for the worst,” he noted.

US President Barack Obama said there was “nothing new” in the speech.

He told reporters that Netanyahu “did not offer any viable alternative.”

Speaking to reporters in the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned against “spreading fears” about a final nuclear deal that is being negotiated by representatives from Iran and the six states.

“Spreading fears is not helpful at this stage,” Mogherini told reporters, adding, “We are getting closer” to a comprehensive accord aimed at ending the longstanding dispute on Tehran’s nuclear dossier.

Reflecting on the talks, Zarif also said “we’re starting to move forward, but it’s a lot of work.”

The negotiations were held on Monday in an attempt to narrow differences on the outstanding issues over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s deputy foreign ministers Abbas Araghchi and Majid Takht Ravanchi together with special aide to Iran’s president Hossein Fereidoun made up the Iranian team. The US delegation was comprised of US Secretary of State John Kerry, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, EU’s deputy foreign policy chief Helga Schmid and US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.

The talks are scheduled to continue on Tuesday in the Swiss city from 9:00 am local time (800 GMT).

Before the talks on Monday, Kerry had announced that he would leave Montreux after visiting Zarif. The reports, however, said that he plans to stay in the Swiss city for negotiations. According to reports, the two sides seem to be determined to reach a political agreement ahead of a key July 1 deadline for reaching a comprehensive deal.

The new round of talks in Montreux came as representatives from Iran and the United States held three rounds of intensive talks in the Swiss city of Geneva on February 22-23 to bridge their differences ahead of the July 1 deadline.

Iran and P5+1– Britain, France, China, Russia, and the United States plus Germany – are making attempts to narrow their differences on the outstanding issues related to Iran’s nuclear program. The two sides have missed two deadlines since an interim deal was signed in November 2013. They have set July 1 as the next deadline for clinching a final deal.