by Christiane Jacke, dpa

Washington DC – Israel's new Foreign Minister Yair Lapid pledged to take a different approach in dealings with the United States, following the ouster of long-time former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Mistakes were made in the past few years. Israel's bipartisan reputation has been damaged," Lapid said on Sunday during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Rome.

"We will fix these mistakes together," he said.

Blinken also said there would be differences, but said that both countries had the same goals.

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Lapid said he had spoken with senior US politicians from the Democrat and Republican parties and reminded them that Israel shares the same basic values as the US.

"We will have disagreements," he said. However, he said, the issue is not about fundamental goals, but about how to achieve them.

He said he had "serious" concerns regarding negotiations over the US returning to the Iran nuclear agreement, but said differences of opinion should be resolved through direct talks rather than in public.

Negotiations are under way, aimed at lifting US sanctions and scaling back Iran's nuclear program. Netanyahu had repeatedly criticized the 2015 agreement in public. The deal was negotiated during the administration of former US president Barack Obama. His successor, Donald Trump, later backed out of the agreement and made a series of decisions supportive of Israel.

Now that Trump and Netanyahu have both been replaced, the two administrations are adjusting their relations anew. The comments came ahead of US President Joe Biden hosting outgoing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the White House on Monday.

Rivlin, who has been president since 2014, is due to leave office on July 9.