US President Donald Trump said he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against a military strike against Iran that could disrupt efforts to broker a deal on Tehran's nuclear program.

"I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now, because we're very close to a solution," Trump told reporters Wednesday. "Now that could change at any moment — could change with a phone call, but right now, I think they want to make a deal."

The US president added that he believed a deal with Iran could be completed within "the next couple of weeks" and that talks had made "a lot of progress."

Trump's comments came hours after the New York Times reported that Netanyahu was considering a unilateral attack on Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities. Israel is not a party to the US-Iran negotiations, and Netanyahu has said he is hoping for a wholesale dismantling of Iran's nuclear program in any deal.

Iran has said it wants to continue operating its own uranium-enrichment capabilities for its domestic nuclear energy industry.

But Tehran earlier Wednesday said it would consider allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency to send US inspectors to monitor the country's atomic activity if a new nuclear deal is brokered with Washington. 

"If Iran's demands are taken into account and an agreement is reached, Iran can reconsider the acceptance of American inspectors through the IAEA," Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said in comments broadcast Wednesday on state television. 

Trump expressed optimism that a deal could be near.

"They still have to agree to the final stages of a document, but I think you could be very well surprised what happens there, and it would be a great thing for them," Trump said. "They could have a great country into the future."

Source : Bloomberg