The US speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, has invited the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, to address a joint session of Congress on the subject of Iran next month, hours after President Obama threatened during his State of the Union address to veto any Iran sanctions bill.



The invitation, a provocative move on Boehner’s part, came at a time when the president is attempting to reach a nuclear deal with Iran.



“In this time of challenge, I am asking the prime minister to address Congress on the grave threats radical Islam and Iran pose to our security and way of life,” Boehner said in a statement.

If he accepts, Netanyahu will speak on 11 February on the topics of threats from Tehran and Islamic extremism, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. He has often spoken out against the possibility of a US-Iran deal, which he strongly opposes.



The White House called the invitation a break of normal diplomatic protocol. Spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One the White House had not heard from Israel about whether Netanyahu had accepted the invitation.

“The protocol would suggest that the leader of one country would contact the leader of another country when he’s traveling there. This particular event seems to be a departure from that protocol,” he said.

At a GOP House leaders’ press conference, Boehner said that he did not consult the White House before making the invitation. “Congress can make this decision on its own,” he said.

Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash if this was a way of poking “the president in the eye”, Boehner demurred. “I don’t believe I’m poking anyone in the eye. There is a serious threat that exists in the world and the president last night kind of papered over it,” he said.

“You may have seen that on Friday, the president warned us not to move ahead with sanctions on Iran, a state sponsor of terror,” Boehner told a meeting of Republicans Wednesday morning, according to Politico.

“His exact message to us was: ‘Hold your fire.’ He expects us to stand idly by and do nothing while he cuts a bad deal with Iran. Two words: Hell no! … We’re going to do no such thing.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

