US 'getting close' to deal with Iran on nuclear programme

The United States and other countries are ‘getting close’ to an interim deal with Iran on its nuclear programme.

The deal will prevent Iran from advancing its nuclear programme and roll it back in key areas, a senior administration official said.

According to CNN, such a deal would ‘extend the breakout time’ that Iran would need to achieve a nuclear weapon and ‘shorten the time to notice if they tried’, the official added.

The proposed deal, covering every aspect of Iran's nuclear program, including uranium enrichment, uranium stockpiles and all nuclear facilities including military ones, would be completed during the next round of talks in Geneva.

The United States, along with the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany came close to a deal during talks with Iran last week in Geneva.

The discussions however ended with both sides blaming each other for the lack of an agreement.