WASHINGTON ( AP) — President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ended two days of public posturing on Iran right where they began. Obama wants Israel to refrain from attacking Iran now, and Netanyahu pointedly refused to make that promise.

Obama never made a direct, public appeal to Israel’s visiting leader, but his message was clear.

“We do believe that there is still a window that allows for a diplomatic resolution to this issue,” Obama said Monday before a two-hour meeting with Netanyahu in the Oval Office.

Netanyahu thanked Obama for acknowledging that Israel will make its own choices.

Later, the hawkish Israeli leader answered some of the U.S. arguments for waiting. Iran is already a menace, and would be a worse one with nuclear weapons, Netanyahu told a friendly crowd of American supporters of Israel. And if you think oil process are high because of the threat of a conflict with Iran, try buying gasoline once oil-rich Iran gets the added confidence of being able to bully the world with a bomb, Netanyahu said.