(VOVworld)- US President Barack Obama has acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself against Iran’s threat. Speaking at a joint press conference with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday, President Obama, in response to questions over whether he had advised the Israeli Prime Minister to be patient and refrain from launching preemptive attacks on Iran, said that each country had to make its own decisions when it came to making major decisions regarding engagement in any kind of military action.  Obama also said that there was still time for diplomatic solutions to the Iranian nuclear issue. Both the President and Israeli Prime Minister agreed to strengthen cooperation aimed at preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons. The crisis in Syria was also high on the agenda of the discussions between the two leaders. They said that they would consider ways to resume deadlocked negotiation between Israel and Palestine. Obama has arrived in Tel Aviv for his first visit to Israel as president on the first foreign trip of his second term. He will hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Thursday.