Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Wednesday evening that "Israel and the United States are in complete agreement and broad understanding over the Iranian threat."
Livni spoke following US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's declaration that Washington is prepared to join other countries and hold direct negotiations with Iran if it should completely freeze it nuclear activities.
The secretary of state called the foreign minister and updated her before making the declaration.
Rice said in her speech: "To underscore our commitment to a diplomatic solution and to enhance prospects for success, as soon as Iran fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities, the United States will come to the table."
Following the statement, Livni said: "We are in complete agreement over the danger in Iran obtaining nuclear capabilities. Israel appreciates the moves and steps taken by the United States, which continues to lead the international coalition and takes all the moves needs in order to prevent Iran from being a nuclear superpower."
"The understandings and agreements on this issue were also expressed during the prime minister's recent visit to Washington," the foreign minister added.
Officials at the Prime Minister's Office also expressed their support of Rice's declaration and issued a statement similar to Livni's remarks.
UK: We are all striving to reach diplomatic solution
Rice's declaration also touched off immediate reactions from across the world. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that he was hopeful the talks on Iran, expected to take place in Vienna on Thursday, would lead to a diplomatic solution of the crisis.
In Brussels, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana welcomed Rice's remarks.
"Direct US participation would be the strongest and most positive signal of our common wish to reach an agreement with Iran," Solana added.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said European nations will offer Tehran "a serious and substantial" package to cooperate.
"We are all striving to reach a diplomatic solution. The European side's goal is to present a serious and substantial offer of cooperation, which demonstrates to Iran the benefits that would flow from compliance," Beckett said, "rather than the further isolation which would result from their failure to do so."
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – and Germany are expected to take part in the Vienna talks Thursday.
AP contributed to the report
First published: 20:29, 05.31.6