Netanyahu and Obama at the White House
Netanyahu and Obama at the White HouseFlash 90

U.S. President Barack Obama will welcome Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to the White House on October 1, AFP reported on Monday.

The meeting will come as a U.S. drive for a nuclear deal with Iran reaches a crucial point.

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden on Monday announced the meeting, likely to highlight U.S.-Israeli divisions over the Iranian negotiations, in a statement.

It will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza this past summer, which caused tension between Jerusalem and Washington.

Obama was at odds with Israel over the defensive operation in Gaza, making various attempts to press Israel into accepting a truce with Hamas. Netanyahu reportedly responded to the pressure by telling the administration "not to ever second guess me again," after Hamas committed one of its many ceasefire violations.

In a leaked transcript of a phone conversation between the two during the operation, Obama appears downright hostile at points, and even cuts off Netanyahu in the middle of his protestations over the one-sided truce proposal.

Israel said that the leaked transcript "bore no resemblance to reality." Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf also brushed off the leaked transcript, saying it was as "complete cr*p".

Netanyahu has also been a vocal critic of the interim nuclear agreement reached between the West and Iran. The sides are now holding talks on a permanent agreement, with the deadline being November 24, they failed to meet a July 20 target date for an agreement.

Netanyahu scoffed Sunday at the idea that western powers should go easy on Iran's nuclear weapons program so that it will cooperate in fighting the “Islamic State (IS or ISIS).

“They are saying that the major powers need to go easy on Iran's nuclear program so that Iran will fight ISIS,” he said.

“They are fighting ISIS for their own interests. They are fighting over who will be the ruler of the Islamist world that they want to set over the entire world. It is as if Assad would say 'Go easy on my chemical weapons. Give me back my chemical weapons so that I can fight ISIS.' Both are absurd,” added Netanyahu.