It was nerve-wracking, tense, emotional and harrowing, but it finally happened. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and US President Joe Biden met at the White House. The two men met first one-on-one for 50 minutes, officially cementing their new relationship, after which their top staff joined them for an expanded session. “We’ve become close friends,” Biden said during the Oval Office photo op with his guest, allowing Bennett’s aides to happily declare mission accomplished on one of their long list of tasks: giving off a sense that the 78-year-old president and 49-year-old prime minister had become buddies.

“This will be the start of a beautiful friendship,” one of the prime minister’s advisers told Al-Monitor, on condition of anonymity, in an upbeat note following the meeting.

Bennett got everything he wanted from Biden in terms of public pledges, first and foremost the president’s declared “commitment to ensure Iran never develops a nuclear weapon.” Bennett’s people breathed sighs of relief and exchanged smiles, and then heard Biden add that while the United States would prioritize diplomacy to block Iran’s nuclear program, “If diplomacy fails, we’re ready to turn to other options.”

When Bennett’s turn came to address reporters, he thanked Biden for his promises and reiterated them to ensure that Tehran was paying attention, too. In simple Hebrew, Biden was saying that “there is now a military option on the table.” What remains is to make sure the remark is translated correctly into Farsi.