Netanyahu To Obama: Sanctions Should Stay In Place

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is assuring Israel's prime minister that the administration has its eyes wide open, as it considers a warming of relations with Iran and a re-start of nuclear negotiations with that country.

Today's visit by Benjamin Netanyahu to the Oval Office came just days after Obama's historic phone conversation with Iran's new president.

Netanyahu again urged the United States and other western nations not to be fooled by what the Israelis have called a "smiley campaign" from Iran.

He says he appreciates U.S. sanctions on Iran in light of global concerns about its nuclear program. He says for diplomacy to work, quote, "those pressures must be kept in place."

Netanyahu says Iran remains committed to Israel's destruction.