US Rejects Meeting with Netanyahu

Told president's schedule does not permit

The White House has rejected a request by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet President Barak Obama in the United States this month, an Israeli official said on Tuesday, after a row erupted between the allies over Iran's nuclear programme.

An Israeli official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Netanyahu's aides had asked for a meeting when he visits the United Nations this month and "the White House has got back to us and said it appears a meeting is not possible. It said that the president's schedule will not permit that."

Netanyahu has met Obama on all but one of his U.S. trips since 2009. The president was on a foreign visit when the prime minister came to the United States in November 2010.