BERLIN, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday said both countries agreed on preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons but disagreed on the means to that end.

The leaders made the remarks at a press conference after Merkel held talks with Netanyahu, who is on an official tour of Europe in an effort to persuade allies to support his call for changing the Iran nuclear deal.

Merkel said that before the UN-sponsored deal, Iran had been close to developing such weapons and that the deal would guarantee "more transparency."

She pleaded for maintaining the nuclear deal with Iran despite the withdrawal of the United States, in order to prevent arming the Islamic republic with nuclear weapons.

However, Netanyahu said the deal would give Iran permission to develop "unlimited" amounts of enriched uranium in the future in return for not enriching uranium now, which he described as unacceptable.

Merkel conceded that that the two countries didn't see eye-to-eye on the topic but insisted that there was consensus about ending Iran's involvement in the Syrian civil war.

"There's no agreement on every issue, but we're friends and there's a will to understand the other's position," Merkel said.