By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - Western women joining Islamic State are increasingly from comfortable backgrounds and often well educated with romantic notions of adventure often quickly dispelled by the harshness of life as a "Jihadi bride", according to a British research report.

Some 550 women from Western countries have left their homelands to join Islamic State, which has captured swathes of Syria and Iraq, said the report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College, London.

However, very little was being done to explain why there had been this "unprecedented surge" to Islamic State, also known as ISIS, or to take preventative action.

"Western female recruits to ISIS are breaking

previous stereotypes about who is 'at risk' of radicalization into jihadism and violent extremist networks," said the report titled "Till Martyrdom Do Us Part".

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In this still taken from CCTV issued by the Metropolitan Police in London on Feb. 23, 2015, 15-year- …

It said female recruits were increasingly younger, some from comfortable backgrounds and often well-educated, and were playing "crucial" propaganda and recruitment roles.

Based on the social media activity of more than 100 Western women who are thought to have joined the militants, researchers said there were many differing reasons why women join.

"The assumption that females join ISIS primarily to become 'jihadi brides' is reductionist and above all, incorrect," said the report.

Like Western men who have joined ISIS, the women felt socially and culturally isolated, believed Muslims were being persecuted and were angry that nothing was being done about it.

They were also attracted by an idealistic view of religious duty, a sense of sisterhood, and the romance of the adventure.

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However, life under ISIS was far from the image they saw portrayed online. Conditions were harsh and some became widows at a young age.

"The responsibility of Western women under ISIS-controlled territory is first and foremost to be a good wife to the jihadist husband they are betrothed to and to become a mother to the next generation of jihadism," the report said.

"However, there are also insights into the complaints of daily life for females, often domestically isolated in severe conditions, and the realities of living within a war zone in a terrorist-led territory."

The report concluded there was a need for 'counter-extremist' messages to be aimed specifically at women, detailing how life under ISIS is far removed from the idealized view, and better programs for those returning from Syria and Iraq to counter radical ideology and reintegrate.

(Editing by Ralph Boulton)

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Iran's foreign minister on Thursday held out hope that a "sustainable, mutually respectful" deal can be struck with world powers in talks over his country's nuclear program before the deadline of June 30.

Mohammad Javad Zarif said an agreement with negotiators from the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany is possible provided "people have their foot in reality, not in illusions."

The proposed deal would freeze Iran's nuclear program for a decade, in return for international sanctions relief. Iran insists its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, while the West fears it could be used to build nuclear weapons.

Zarif also warned that "excessive demands" would make an agreement hard to envisage, even without a deadline. He spoke after talks in Athens Thursday with his Greek peer, Nikos Kotzias

On Saturday, he is due to meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva, in a bid to achieve progress toward an agreement by June 30. European and Iranian officials have suggested the talks may require more time, but the U.S. isn't considering an extension.

At a meeting in the Swiss city of Lausanne last month, Iran and the six powers agreed on a framework deal meant to curb Tehran's nuclear activities while granting it quick access to bank accounts, oil markets and financial assets blocked by sanctions.

The deal also specifies that if at any time Iran fails to fulfill its commitments, the sanctions would snap back into place.

"I believe the terms of the agreement in Lausanne are rather clear so I would expect my negotiating partners to refrain from making excessive demands," Zarif said Thursday, without providing any further details.

A general view of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Washington May 27, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Erns

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United States Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen appears before a House Oversight a …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI said on Thursday it had begun looking into the illegal access of the tax-return information of about 100,000 people disclosed by the Internal Revenue Service earlier this week.

"The FBI has opened an investigation into the recently reported incident at the Internal Revenue Service and is working with our interagency partners to determine the nature and scope of this matter," a spokesman said.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said Tuesday cyber criminals had sought to gain access to personal tax information 200,000 times from February to May, and were successful in about half of those attempts.

The FBI spokesman said individuals alerted to the illegal access of information should report "any suspected instances of identify theft" to the FBI's Crime Complaint Center at the website www.ic3.gov.

On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to hear testimony about the incident from Koskinen and J. Russell George, the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration.

(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Richard Cowan and Bernadette Baum)