ASPEN, Colo. — White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Friday that he expects Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a different and less divisive tone in his upcoming address to Congress than he did in his 2015 speech railing against the Iran nuclear deal.

“Our expectation is that his speech will be one that doesn’t look like 2015. It looks like what it should in the circumstances of today, and that is how the U.S. and Israel are [working] together,” Sullivan said during a panel at the Aspen Security Forum. “Whether that happens or not … we’ll see.”

Sullivan said administration officials received a “broad preview” of the speech from Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi when they visited Washington last week. Sullivan said he expects the speech will “reinforce themes and arguments not at odds or in contradiction to our policy.”

Sullivan said that he also expects Netanyahu “will lay out for the president, in pretty specific terms, what he intends to say” when he visits the White House ahead of his congressional appearance later in the week.

Sullivan added that the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas will be the key focus for the two leaders’ meeting in Washington, explaining that there are still “complicated” questions, including the Israeli military presence in Gaza, humanitarian aid and long-term governance of Gaza.

Sullivan told reporters after the event that the details of which and how many Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israel is one of the key remaining questions to be worked out in negotiations, as well as details of “what Phase I looks like and actually feels like, tangibly, with respect to the IDF presence.”

“We believe there is an opportunity” to finalize a deal, Sullivan said during the event. “We are mindful that there remain obstacles in the way, and let’s use the next week to try to clear through those obstacles and get to a deal.”

Following up on comments by Secretary of State Tony Blinken at the conference earlier in the day that Iran’s nuclear breakout period is down to one to two weeks, Sullivan told reporters that the U.S. has seen “a real uptick in public commentary, including from Iranian officials, musing about the possibility of acquiring nuclear weapons.”

But he said he still has not seen any evidence that Iran has made a decision to obtain a nuclear weapon, and “we continue to indicate to Iran that we are determined to prevent them from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”

Sullivan described the administration’s decision to implement a new sanctions policy targeting those, including several Israeli settlers, responsible for West Bank violence as one made directly by President Joe Biden, who “personally said to us, ‘I would like to see this done.’”

He said there would be further sanctions announced “in the not too distant future” and described the policy, which has been heavily criticized by Israel, as a success.

Sullivan, along with other Aspen attendees from the administration, also defended Biden’s continued fitness for office, amid continuing doubts about his health and cognition, days before he withdrew from the 2024 presidential race.

“Biden is more than up for the job of being president,” Sullivan said, pointing to his leadership of the U.S. response to the Iranian attack on Israel from the White House Situation Room as it unfolded and subsequently in conversation with Netanyahu. “What I saw that night made me walk out thinking, ‘I am damn glad we have that guy at the head of the table in this situation.’”