US officials said some progress has been made in nuclear negotiations with Iran. Photo: Nanking2012 via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – US officials say that “some progress” has been made in world powers’ Switzerland-based negotiations with Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

“We have made some progress but have a lot of challenges yet ahead,” a senior US State Department official said, Reuters reported.

“The bottom line here is that [there is] no deal to announce to anybody today, but very intense, hard work, some progress, but tough challenges yet to be resolved,” the official said.

The two sides are working towards forging a deal before the March 24 deadline for a “political framework agreement.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s on Tuesday told Congress that the current negotiations are paving the way for “Iran’s path to the bomb,” adding that restrictions on Iran should be maintained until the country’s “aggression” ends. But US President Barack Obama said that Netanyahu’s speech offered no “viable alternatives” to the current negotiations.

In Switzerland, US Secretary of State John Kerry echoed Obama, saying that “no one has presented a more viable lasting alternative for how you actually prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.”

Talks between Iran and world powers are expected to resume sometime around March 15 in Geneva.