US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Washington is close to reaching a "very good deal" with Iran, while emphasising that military options remain on the table if negotiations falter.

Speaking in a Fox News interview, Trump described the potential agreement as significant but warned that tougher terms were being considered.

According to US media reports, the president has sought revisions to a proposed framework aimed at ending the ongoing Middle East conflict, including stricter provisions on Iran's nuclear material.

Officials familiar with the talks said the revised terms have been sent back to Tehran for consideration, though it remains unclear when a final agreement might be reached.

Trump also criticised what he called the "fake news media," arguing that US successes are often underplayed.

"You have a big win in a battle, and they say you lost… it’s just a terrible thing for our country," he said, calling negative coverage one of Iran's "biggest assets."

The ongoing negotiations follow a series of US and Israeli strikes against Iran that began on February 28.

Analysts say Trump's proposed adjustments could extend discussions for several days as all parties weigh the modified framework before deciding whether the deal could formally end the conflict.

END/AGENCIES/ASA

At least 34 people, including two babies were killed when a contraband fuel depot exploded into flames in southern Benin near the border with Nigeria on Saturday.

According to Beninese Interior Minister Alassane Seidou, “a serious fire occurred in the town of Seme Podji. Another 20 people were seriously wounded in the incident.”

"I can't really give you the cause of the fire, but there is a large gasoline warehouse here and cars, tricycles and motorcycles come from morning to evening,” he added.

Nigeria is a main oil and gas producer where fuel smuggling is very common along its borders, particularly when the government maintains a subsidy to keep fuel prices low.

The majority of the victims were burnt and they could not be not be identified.

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).