Hillary Clinton discusses Iran, Arab Spring with Israeli leaders

JERUSALEMWith Egypt unsettled, Syria in crisis and Iran's nuclear program raising widespread fears, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton conferred with Israeli leaders Monday in Jerusalem to reaffirm U.S. ties and allay anxieties about the rapidly changing dynamics in the region.

In her first trip to Israel since 2010 and probably her last as secretary of state, Clinton met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to talk about a range of issues, the most pressing of which was probably Iran's nuclear program.

The discussions also touched on the dangers of the escalating civil war in neighboring Syria and other changes ushered in by last year's Arab Spring uprisings.

"We're living in a time of unprecedented change, a lot of challenges for us both," Clinton said before a dinner with Netanyahu. "And we will continue to consult closely ... to chart the best way forward for peace and stability for Israel, the United States, the region and the world."

At a news conference, Clinton said that she and the prime minister had continued "a very long, in-depth, ongoing consultation" about Iran.

"We know the sanctions are biting, and we talked about concrete steps we could take to keep building the pressure," she said.

She didn't specify what those steps might be, adding that the United States would prefer a diplomatic solution but would "use all elements of American power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Israel's most hawkish voices on the issue, have said that sanctions and diplomacy are giving Iran more time to build a bomb. They have expressed little confidence in President Barack Obama's promise to keep that from happening.

Before arriving in Israel, Clinton met with Egypt's new Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi. She said Monday that her message to Morsi and Netanyahu was the same: The United States is looking to Egypt's new leaders to play a constructive role in advancing regional peace and secu! rity, pa rticularly by upholding the peace treaty with Israel.