WASHINGTON — Despite different assessments of the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday appeared to give President Barack Obama more time to pursue a diplomatic resolution while reaffirming Israel’s right to take unilateral military action.

Speaking to the main pro-Israel U.S. lobbying group hours after holding Oval Office talks with Obama, Netanyahu acknowledged that sanctions are beginning to seriously hurt Iran’s economy, but he added that they have yet to compel Iran to halt a uranium enrichment program that is widely suspected of secretly being for developing nuclear weapons.

“Unfortunately, Iran’s nuclear program has continued to march forward. Israel has waited ... for diplomacy to work, we’ve waited for sanctions to work. None of us can afford to wait much longer,” Netanyahu declared to some 13,000 cheering attendees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference. “As prime minister of Israel I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation.”

At the same time, Netanyahu sought to assure the audience _ including more than half the members of Congress _ that there are no differences between him and Obama over Iran policy, emphasizing that the U.S. president has put “all options on the table,” which include military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

“Well, Israel has the same policy,” he declared, an assertion that could take some of the edge off U.S.-Israeli relations as well as Republican charges that Obama’s approach hasn’t been tough enough.

Netanyahu’s comments indicated that he is prepared to give some more time to Obama to pursue tighter sanctions and a diplomatic deal that halts the program that Iran claims is for peaceful purposes, but that the United States, Israel, and other powers charge is secretly developing the capability to build nuclear warheads.

Obama and Netanyahu spent two hours in discussions dominated by the Iran nuclear crisis.

Their meeting coincided with a new report by a former U.N. nuclear inspector that said that Iran is unlikely to build a warhead this year. But the report added that Iran is already capable of building a crude bomb, and that only a “negotiated long-term diplomatic resolution” could permanently ensure that it remains in compliance with the international treaty designed to halt the spread of nuclear arms.

Speaking with reporters before their talks, Obama and Netanyahu were more relaxed with each other compared to their last meeting, in May 2011, when Obama sat silently as Netanyahu sternly rejected a U.S. plan to revive stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Yet Netanyahu left no doubt about the seriousness of Monday’s discussions. Looking directly at Obama, he reiterated Israel’s right to take unilateral military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, which the Jewish state _ which has an estimated several hundred nuclear warheads of its own that it refuses to officially acknowledge _ views as an existential threat.

He didn’t once refer to international or U.S. sanctions aimed at compelling Iran to comply with U.N. demands to suspend uranium enrichment _ which produces fuel for reactors and bombs _ or European-led diplomatic efforts aimed at trading a halt to the program for financial and other incentives.