Trump admits likelihood of delay in Obamacare repeal

President Donald Trump has admitted for the first time that repealing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, may not be completed until 2018.

During his successful election campaign, Trump waxed lyrical about his imminent scrapping of the ACA, which he has described as a "disaster".

In a Sunday interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, Trump said it would take longer than initially expected to introduce his own healthcare legislation.

"Maybe it'll take till some time into next year, but we are certainly going to be in the process," Trump said during the interview. "I would like to say by the end of the year, at least the rudiments, but we should have something within the year and the following year."

At a press conference ahead of his inauguration, the President said that his administration would immediately submit legislation to repeal and replace the Obamacare act.

"We're going to be submitting, as soon as our secretary is approved, almost simultaneously, shortly thereafter, a plan," Trump said in January. "It'll be repeal and replace. It will be essentially simultaneously."

During the interview, Trump also criticised the nuclear deal negotiated with Iran, which led to a $16.6bn deal with US plane-maker Boeing for 80 passenger jets.

"It was the worst deal I've ever seen negotiated, I think it was a deal that should never have been negotiated," Trump said.

"They (Iran) have total disregard for our country, they are the number one terrorist state," he added.