Obama to Address AIPAC Conference

President Obama will address a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in early March.

"The president welcomes this opportunity to speak to the strength of the special bonds between Israel and the United States," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday.

Mr. Obama has spoken to the group in the past and this speech comes at amid concerns that Iran will develop a nuclear weapon that would threaten Israel's existence. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he believes Israel could launch an attack on Iran this Spring. But the White House said the president's policies have isolated Iran and that sanctions still have time to work.

"[T]he approach this administration has taken has lead to a situation where Iran is isolated as never before, where it is under pressure economically as never before, where there is an international consensus around the idea that ... the problem here is Iranian bad behavior; their refusal to live up to their international obligations," Carney said.

While Iran has claimed its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, it's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has also rattled sabers by calling for death to Israel and saying the country will be wiped off the map.

The Iran issue will also be front-and-center the day after the AIPAC speech when the president meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. National Security Advisor Tom Donilon returned recently from Israel where he met with officials about Iran.