Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet his Iranian counterpart in Oman early next month to discuss the next steps toward a complex nuclear deal.

Kerry will travel to Muscat for talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and outgoing EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on November 9-10, his spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Friday.

The meeting comes as a November 24 deadline for a deal looms, amid recognition that serious gaps still remain between global powers grouped under the so-called P5+1 powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany -- and Iran.

In recent years, Oman hosted several secret meetings between top Iranian and US officials to break the ice between the two foes. Those talks were credited with helping bring Iran back to the negotiating table after years of stop-start talks.

But Kerry has warned the coming weeks will show whether the Islamic Republic is truly prepared to make the tough decisions needed to rein in its suspect nuclear program and win a lifting of international sanctions.

"The stakes for the world are enormous. I hope the Iranians will not get stuck in a tree of their own making, on one demand or another, in order to try to find a way together," Kerry said in an interview with PBS television.

"I'm hopeful, but it's a very tough negotiation."