The Obama administration has indicated it expects to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran before next week’s deadline. Differences remain over the pace for ending U.N. sanctions, caps on centrifuges, and how long the deal would last. But according to The New York Times, a senior State Department official gave the administration’s most hopeful prognosis to date, saying: “we very much believe we can get this done,” in time. Ahead of a new round of talks in Switzerland, Secretary of State John Kerry said critics have offered no viable alternative.

Secretary of State John Kerry: “Anybody standing up in opposition to this has an obligation to stand up and put a viable, realistic alternative on the table, and I have yet to see anybody do that. So, we’ll see where we go.”