Ahead of key talks with Israel on how to deal with Iran's nuclear aspirations, US President Barack Obama says that he and Benjamin Netanyau share "a common vision about where we want to go."

But when the Israeli leader meets Obama in the White House on Monday he will want to be convinced that the two also have a common view of the road to be taken.

During a weekend stopover in Canada ahead of the Washington talks, Netanyahu warned that the west's favored route of diplomatic pressure and sanctions to force Iran to abandon what both Israel and the US believe is a nuclear arms program could well turn out to be a blind alley.

"Everyone would like to see a peaceful solution, where Iran abandons its nuclear program," Netanyahu said during a visit on Friday to the Canadian parliament, for talks with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"In fact it's done the very opposite and could do again what its done before; pursue or exploit the talks as they've done in the past, to deceive and to delay so that they can continue to advance their nuclear program and get to the nuclear finish line by running the clock," he said.

"I think the international community should not fall into that trap."

Israel says that at a yet undefined point the sanctions route must be deemed to have failed and military action against Tehran will become inevitable.

Officials have said that while the Jewish state would prefer that the US lead such an attack, Israel will go it alone if it feels its back is against the wall.

What divides Netanyahu and Obama, the Globe and Mail's Campbell Clark wrote in the Canadian daily on Saturday, "is not whether a military strike should be used, if needed, to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons -- but how soon that might be needed and how loudly the sabre should be rattled until then."

Obama on Friday served notice on both Israel and Iran, as well as skeptical Republicans, that his emphasis on seeking a peaceful resolution should not be interpreted as meaning that the US would not use force if it felt it necessary.

He told the Atlantic Monthly magazine in remarks published Friday that while a premature strike on Iran was likely to be counterproductive, US strategy ultimately, "includes a military component."

Tehran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only but Western nations suspect the Islamic republic is leading a covert program to develop a nuclear weapons capability and is not far from achieving its goal.

In the Atlantic interview Obama was frank about his relations with Netanyahu. In their meetings together the two men's body language project a lack of warmth or empathy.

During a visit to the White House last May, Netanyahu scolded Obama for a Middle East policy that he called "based on illusions" and gave the president a lecture on the historic struggles of the Jewish people.

Obama told the magazine that his relationship with the Israeli leader was one focused on business and noted they came from different political traditions.

"We can be very frank with each other, very blunt with each other, very honest with each other," he said.

"For the most part, when we have our differences, they are tactical and not strategic," he said. "We have a common vision about where we want to go."

"At any given moment -- as is true, frankly, with my relationship with every other foreign leader -- there's not going to be a perfect alignment of how we achieve these objectives," he said.

While the chemistry, or lack of it, between Israeli and US leaders can ebb and flow according to who holds the post at any given time, the underlying state-to-state bond is unshakeable, Israeli and US officials say.

"I have no doubt that at this meeting the prime minister and the president will reaffirm the deep bonds between the countries," Kurt Hoyer, spokesman of the US embassy in Tel Aviv told AFP.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak traveled ahead of Netanyahu to Washington earlier this week and met Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other security and political officials.

A statement from Barak's office said that Wednesday's Pentagon talks with Panetta, "like previous meetings, emphasize the very close security relations between the United States and Israel. The meeting was important and productive."