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Bad Blood? White House Denies Obama Invited Netanyahu for Talks

© AP Photo / Pablo Martinez MonsivaisIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listens as President Barack Obama speaks during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listens as President Barack Obama speaks during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014. - Sputnik International
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The White House on Tuesday denied a report by an Israeli newspaper that stated US President Barack Obama invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet in Washington next month.

Citing unnamed sources at the US State Department, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Obama had invited Netanyahu to the White House for talks in mid-July, after a June 30 deadline for a nuclear deal with Iran, which has been a point of contention between the two leaders.

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Netanyahu was elected to a fourth term in March, and since then, both US and Israeli officials have said they expected the prime minister would meet Obama again. But no date has been set, and an unnamed source at the White House denied Netanyahu had received any US invitation.

"No invitation has been extended, though certainly we'd expect that there will be occasion for the two leaders to meet in Washington at some point going forward," the official was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Likewise, Israeli officials speaking on condition of anonymity told reporters that Netanyahu had received no such invitation, Reuters reported.

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Netanyahu has been critical of the nuclear deal, saying it will enable Iran to make a nuclear bomb, while also granting it sanctions relief which Tehran could use to help bankroll its militant allies in the Middle East.

Iran maintains that its nuclear projects are peaceful.

Netanyahu visited the United States in March and addressed Congress, speaking out against the nuclear deal. Obama declined to meet with Netanyahu then, saying it would be "inappropriate" because the Israeli elections were just two weeks away.

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