U.S. President Barack Obama (pictured) called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday to offer more military funding to the Jewish state. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – U.S. President Barack Obama has reportedly offered to increase U.S. military aid to Israel amid the Jewish state’s opposition to the recently reached Iran nuclear deal.

Obama called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday and told him that he is prepared to hold “intensive discussions” on bolstering Israeli defense, the New York Times reported. But Netanyahu did not want to discuss that issue until seeing whether or not the U.S. Congress rejects the Iran deal, which the prime minister called a “bad mistake of historic proportions.”

Currently, Israel and the U.S. have a memorandum of understanding until 2018, through which the U.S. is providing Israel with military $3 billion in annual aid. Israel has asked for an increase to as much as $4.5 billion per year over 10 years, according to an official familiar with the negotiations.