The "only good deal is one that is verifiable," Bush told reporters in Crawford, where he is on vacation for the long holiday weekend.

He said that if Britain, Germany and France can agree to a deal with Iran it must be able to be verified.

"First of all, I appreciate the nations of Great Britain and Germany and France who are working to try to convince Iran to honor their international treaty obligations," he said. "And I look forward to talking to the leaders of those countries, if they can get Iran to agree to a deal, to make sure that it's verifiable."

Earlier Friday, a UN atomic agency spokesman said Iran and Europe were close to agreement on a freeze on Iranian fuel cycle work that could be used to make nuclear weapons.

Iran had insisted that it was honoring a pledge to freeze uranium enrichment, but remained at odds with European countries by demanding that key equipment should be exempted from the deal.

Iran now appears to have yielded to demands from Britain, France and Germany to drop its request for 20 centrifuges to be exempted from the uranium enrichment agreement.

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