Washington (CNN) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday further strained an already tense relationship with President Barack Obama.

And a number of top Democrats — including Vice President Joe Biden, whose job description includes the title President of the Senate — didn't attend.

Netanyahu used the Tuesday speech to frame Iran as a major terrorist threat to the U.S and Israel, framing it in the same vein as ISIS and North Korea. And he argued that the deal currently in the works to prevent the nation from gaining nuclear weapons would in fact "guarantee" that it secures them — "lots of them."

The expected substance of the speech, coupled with the fact that the White House was not alerted to the invite ahead of time, had drawn sharp criticism from the administration, and Democrats crying foul. National Security Adviser Susan Rice last week said Netanyahu's decision to speak was "destructive to the fabric of the relationship" between Israel and the U.S.

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