US President Barack Obama and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu go into key talks on the Iranian nuclear stand-off on Monday, with each publicly seeking to stake out some common ground.

While Obama in an address to the powerful pro-Israel lobby on Sunday criticized "loose talk of war" he also gave a strong nod to Israel's refusal to contemplate a nuclear-armed Iran.

"No Israeli government can tolerate a nuclear weapon in the hands of a regime that denies the Holocaust, threatens to wipe Israel off the map, and sponsors terrorist groups committed to Israel's destruction," he said, to applause from members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Obama also acknowledged "Israel's sovereign right to make its own decisions about what is required to meet its security needs", drawing a swift vote of thanks from Netanyahu.

"I appreciated the fact that he said that Israel must be able to defend itself, by itself, against any threat," he told reporters in Ottawa on Sunday.

"I very much appreciated the fact that President Obama reiterated his position that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons and that all options are on the table," Netanyahu added.

While Obama does not rule out the use of US military force against the Islamic republic as a last resort if diplomatic and economic pressure fails, Israel fears that the time until Iran reaches a stage where it is too late to take out its nuclear facilities is running out.

In Washington

Agence France-Presse