US President Barack Obama on Monday excused ongoing Iranian foot-dragging on its defiant nuclear program, suggesting that political instability in the Islamic Republic makes it difficult to implement quick decisions.

Obama insisted in an interview with Reuters that his administration had made a lot of progress on ending the nuclear standoff, but that it is going to take more time because Iran is not "settled enough politically to make quick decisions on these issues."

Obama was referring to a offer by the US and other international powers on October 1 that would allow Iran to maintain a civilian nuclear program, but remove its ability to develop nuclear weapons. Iran originally agreed to the deal in principle, but has since stalled any further talks on the matter.

The president's assessment of why it is taking so long to reach a deal appeared to ignore the fact that diplomatic efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program have been going on for over seven years.

Meanwhile, Israel is convinced that Iran is successfully buying itself enough time to build and test a nuclear weapon, at which point the terms of negotiations with the international community will change drastically.