JERUSALEM (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says an imperfect nuclear deal with Iran is preferable to no deal, and that her country will "watch very closely" to ensure it is being fulfilled.

Merkel spoke to Israel TV's Channel 10 in an interview broadcast Sunday.

She meets this week with U.S. President Donald Trump who says he'll withdraw from the agreement by May 12 unless U.S. and European negotiators agree to fix what he calls its serious flaws.

The 2015 deal, opposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, aims to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. Merkel says she understands "great worries in Israel" over those ambitions, but that she disagrees with Netanyahu on how to contain them.

The chancellor, who was last in Israel in 2014, says she will visit later this year.