Obama: Gaps in Iran talks ‘significant’

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President Obama said in an interview broadcast Sunday morning that “significant” gaps remained in talks over Iran’s nuclear program just one day ahead of a deadline for the negotiations.

{mosads}“The good news is that the interim deal that we entered into has definitely stopped Iran’s nuclear program from advancing,” Obama said on ABC’s “This Week.” “So it’s been successful, and Iran has followed the terms of the deal,” he added.

“Our goal is never to resort to military actions as a first resort: our goal is to solve a particular problem here, which is making sure Iran doesn’t trigger a nuclear arms race, doesn’t threaten the United States, can’t threaten allies like Israel,” Obama said in the interview, recorded Friday.

Obama said he is confident he could convince Congress and the American people that a deal would be “the right thing to do” if it is ”verifiable and ensures that Iran does not have breakout capacity.”

Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday that “big gaps” remain in negotiations.

“We’re working hard, we hope we’re making careful progress, but we have big gaps. We still have some serious gaps, which we’re working to close,” Kerry said from Vienna.

The P5+1 — the U.S., France, Russia, Great Britain, Germany and China — have been working for nearly a year to produce a deal that would curb Iran’s nuclear program.

Officials failed to reach a final deal by the deadline they first set for themselves in July.