President Obama says his dispute with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu is not personal, and questioned whether the subject of their friction — a long-term nuclear deal with Iran — will even happen.

In an interview with Reuters, Obama said an agreement depends on whether "Iran is willing to agree to double-digit years of keeping their program where it is right now and, in fact, rolling back elements of it that currently exist."

Obama told Reuters, "I would say that it is probably still more likely than not that Iran doesn`t get to yes," but also said a good agreement would be worth it.

"If they do agree to it, it would be far more effective in controlling their nuclear program than any military action we could take, any military action Israel could take and far more effective than sanctions will be," Obama said.

He added: "If we`ve got that, and we`ve got a way of verifying that, there`s no other steps we can take that would give us such assurance that they don`t have a nuclear weapon."

The goal is to make sure "there`s at least a year between us seeing them try to get a nuclear weapon and them actually being able to obtain one," Obama said.

Netanyahu has criticized the prospects of an agreement with Iran, and is expected to make his case against one Tuesday in an address to a joint session of Congress.

Saying Iran cannot be trusted not to pursue nukes, Netanyahu told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Monday that "American leaders worry about the security of their country — Israeli leaders worry about the survival of their country."

There is "substantial disagreement" with Israel over how to deal with Iran, Obama said, but he downplayed the dispute with Netanyahu.

"This is not a personal issue," Obama said. "I think that it is important for every country in its relationship with the United States to recognize that the U.S. has a process of making policy."

Obama did say that Netanyahu is wrong about the impact of an interim agreement currently against Iran.

"Netanyahu made all sorts of claims," Obama said. "`This was going to be a terrible deal. This was going to result in Iran getting 50 billion dollars worth of relief. Iran would not abide by the agreement.` None of that has come true."

For his part, Netanyahu also downplayed the rift with Obama during his remarks to AIPAC.

"My speech (to Congress) is not intended to show disrespect for President Obama and the office that he holds," Netanyahu said. "I deeply appreciate all that President Obama has done for Israel."

As the crowd at AIPAC cheered, Netanyahu also said: "I have a moral obligation to speak up in the face of these dangers while there is still time to avert them."

More about: