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President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, arrives in Israel this week for high-profile talks that come against the backdrop of rising hopes for an Iranian nuclear deal and faltering U.S.-led peace talks with the Palestinians.

Rice's trip her first to Israel since assuming her White House post last year has been long planned. She's leading a contingent of U.S. officials the State and Treasury departments, Pentagon and intelligence community who hold regular discussions with their Israeli counterparts.

But the Iranian negotiations in particular are expected to factor into Rice's talks Wednesday and Thursday, particularly her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli leader has been vocal critic of the U.S.-led nuclear negotiations with Iran, accusing Tehran of using the talks as a stalling tactic while it pursues a nuclear weapon.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday that Rice's meetings will not produce "any new development on the Iran front."

"It's an opportunity for representatives from the United States and Israel at high levels to discuss that issue, among many others," Carney said.

The U.S. and its negotiating partners Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China reached an interim nuclear accord with Iran late last year and are now holding delicate discussions on a final deal. Nuclear experts from each country were meeting in New York this week ahead of higher level talks scheduled in Vienna next week.

While the talks have yielded some positive signs, the toughest issues must still be negotiated and any deal could fall apart.

Obama and other top U.S. officials have sought to convince Israel that the talks represent the best option for resolving the international community's dispute with Iran peacefully. Israel sees the Iranian nuclear program as an existential threat and has resisted any suggestions that Tehran could be left with some nuclear capacity.

Iran says it is not seeking a bomb and is instead pursuing a peaceful nuclear program.

Despite being one of Obama's closest foreign policy advisers, Rice has kept a relatively low-key public profile on both the Iran and Mideast peace issues, allowing Secretary of State John Kerry to serve as the administration's primary spokesman on the matters. Kerry has played a particularly hands-on role in the U.S.-brokered peace talks, shuttling to the region frequently in an effort to jumpstart the stalled process.

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Obama Aide Susan Rice to Hold Meetings in Israel

President Barack Obama is expected to meet with the head of Syria's opposition council in the coming days, as the U.S. weighs the possibility of more economic sanctions aimed at changing Syrian President Bashar Assad's calculus ahead of June elections.

A White House official said Obama would see Ahmad al-Jarba while the opposition leader is in Washington for meetings with Secretary of State John Kerry and other U.S. officials. The exact day of Obama's meeting was unclear, though it's likely to occur after the president returns from a three-day trip to the West Coast that kicks off Wednesday.

The official insisted on anonymity in order to confirm Obama's meeting before it was publicly announced.

Jarba's trip to Washington comes as the Obama administration is boosting its support for the Syrian Opposition Council. The State Department announced Monday that it would give the opposition's offices in Washington and New York formal diplomatic status and increase non-lethal assistance to the opposition by $27 million.

The administration recognized the opposition council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in December 2012, but its U.S. offices had been recognized only as informal liaison bureaus until this week.

The moves come at a critical time in the conflict as Assad's government has made recent battlefield gains and is planning presidential elections in June. The administration is considering taking additional steps in the coming days, including the possibility of levying new sanctions on the Assad regime.

Earlier U.S. sanctions on Assad and his associates have had little impact in stemming the bloody civil war that has stretched into a fourth year. More than 150,000 people have been killed in the clashes between rebels and forces loyal to Assad, with millions of others displaced by the war.

The White House has denounced the June presidential elections in Syria as a farce aimed at giving Assad the veneer of electoral legitimacy. Assad has ruled Syria since 2000, when he took over from his late father.

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Matthew Lee and http://twitter.com/APDiploWriter

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Obama to Meet With Syrian Opposition Leader

Surveying the remnants of nature's destructive power in the country's midsection, President Barack Obama pledged Wednesday to residents of tornado-ravaged Arkansas communities that their government will stand with them until they finish rebuilding.

Obama said he wanted to visit this small city about a half-hour north of Little Rock to make sure those grieving the loss of loved ones, their homes and treasured possessions know that they will not be forgotten.

"I'm here to make sure that they know and that everybody who's been affected knows that the federal government's going to be right here until we get these communities rebuilt," Obama said after walking through a subdivision in which just six of its 56 homes had any part still standing after storms tore across the state on April 27, killing 15 people.

"When something like this happens to a wonderful community like this one, it happens to all of us," he said.

Obama first surveyed the wreckage by air, peering down from the windows of his helicopter onto a subdivision of short cul-de-sacs that was destroyed. The still-visible rubble was evidence of the random but surgical devastation a twister is capable of.

After meeting privately with grieving families, emergency workers and local officials, Obama set out on foot through a section of Vilonia, where residents felt a sense of deja vu. Four people died after a tornado hit Vilonia in 2011.

He also stopped alongside a pile of debris and wooden planks to chat with Daniel Smith and his sons, Gabriel Dority, 9, and Garrison Dority, 6.

"This town has seen more than its fair share of tragedy," Obama observed, speaking in front of the wreckage of destroyed homes. The sunny afternoon beneath a nearly cloudless sky was a sharp contrast to the dark storms that struck less than two weeks ago. "But folks here are tough, they look out for one another and that's been especially clear over the past week."

Obama said there is a lot of cleanup and rebuilding that remains to be done to make Vilonia whole again "but I'm here to remind them they're not doing this work alone. Your country's going to be here for you. We're going to support you every step of the way."

"I could not be more impressed by the spirit of community that is here," he said.

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Obama: US Will Help Arkansas Rebuild After Storms

President Obama #39;s Bilateral Meeting with President Guelleh of Djibouti
President Obama makes a statement to the press before a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office with President Guelleh of Djibouti. May 5, 2014.

By: The White House

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President Obama's Bilateral Meeting with President Guelleh of Djibouti - Video

2014 WHCD Watch Joel McHale and President Obama #39;s Speeches part 2
you missed Saturday #39;s White House Correspondents #39; Dinnerbe it because you couldn #39;t find C-SPAN on your dial or had one too many Mint Julepsdon #39;t worry, we have you covered. Below you...

By: alar Ali

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2014 WHCD Watch Joel McHale and President Obama's Speeches part 2 - Video