WASHINGTON, Nov 9: US President Barack Obama has assured Israel that he remained committed to preventing Iran from making a nuclear weapon, the White House said on Saturday.

President Obama telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday evening and told him that the on-going talks with Iran in Geneva also aimed at peacefully resolving this issue.

The White House said that Mr Obama and the Israeli leader discussed “our on-going efforts to advance a peaceful resolution of the international community’s concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme.

The US president provided the Israeli prime minister with an update on negotiations in Geneva and “underscored his strong commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, which is the aim of the on-going negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran,” the White House said.

The two leaders agreed to continue to stay in touch on this issue.

Israel has strongly criticised the Geneva talks between Iran and five major western powers, including the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany that began earlier this week.

Israeli leaders claim that the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) have already reached an agreement with Iran, jeopardising the security of the Jewish state.

“Iran got the deal of the century and the international community got a bad deal,” Mr Netanyahu told reporters at the Tel Aviv airport on Friday.

“I understand that the Iranians are walking around very satisfied in Geneva as well they should be.”

As US Secretary of State John Kerry stayed engaged with Iranian and European foreign policy chiefs in Geneva, lawmakers in Washington said they were considering new sanctions on Iran despite the progress in nuclear talks.

Chairman of the US Senate Banking Committee, Senator Tim Johnson told the US media that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had asked him to go ahead with the consideration of a new round of sanctions against Iran after the nuclear talks in Geneva end.

The new sanctions have already been approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. The House bill, passed in July, seeks to cut Iran’s oil exports by one million barrels a day for the next year and includes threats of military force against Iran.

If the Senate Banking Committee decides to go ahead with the suggestion, the bill will move one step closer to a full Senate vote.

Earlier, a White House official told reporters that the Obama administration was ready to propose a “phased approach” that would reportedly include “limited sanctions relief.”

However, a senior Republican lawmaker, Senator Bob Corker, said that Congress would not allow the Obama administration to ease the sanctions against Iran.