Obama says the US-Israel discord is a distraction from stopping Iran
President
Barack Obama has said Iran should agree to at least a decade-long
freeze on its nuclear activity if a landmark deal is to be finally
reached.
In an interview with Reuters, Mr Obama also said the odds were still against such an agreement happening.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to oppose a deal in a speech to Congress on Tuesday.
But the president said Mr Netanyahu had been wrong on Iran before, when he opposed an interim agreement last year.
"Netanyahu made all sorts of claims - this was going to be a terrible deal, this was going to result in Iran getting $50bn worth of relief, Iran would not abide by the agreement."
None of that has come true, Mr Obama said.
"During this period we've seen Iran not advance its programme. In many ways, it's rolled back elements of its programme."
Such differences of opinion between the US and Israel would not be "permanently destructive" to relations between the two countries, he added.
Mr Netanyahu was invited to speak at the US Capitol by Republican House Speaker John Boehner, a move that angered Democrats.
The Israeli prime minister sees himself as Churchill's heir, warning against Iran as Churchill warned against the Nazis.
But he's also been accused of political calculation - helping out his Republican friends and making the speech part of his campaign in the Israeli general elections a fortnight from now.
The Obama administration is countering by pointing everything it does for Israel, from $20bn in military aid since President Obama was first elected to the use of the veto in the UN Security Council to protect Israel diplomatically.
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