By Jim Wolf

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates tried to reassure Israel on Monday that Washington's bid to talk Iran into giving up nuclear work was time-sensitive and worth pursuing, despite Tehran's reticence.

President Barack Obama has put the quest for engagement with Iran at the core of U.S. foreign policy. Israel, which says a nuclear-armed Iran would threaten its survival, has hinted at pre-emptive strikes should it deem diplomacy at a dead end.

A statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he reaffirmed in his talks with Gates "the need to use all means to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear military capability."

"Gates said the United States and Israel see eye-to-eye with regard to the Iranian nuclear threat," the statement said.

During a visit to Israel, Gates affirmed Obama's hope for an Iranian response to the U.S. overtures in time for the U.N. General Assembly in late September.

Obama has also warned Tehran that the United States would not abide endless talks, saying he would like to see progress by year's end.

"I think, based on the information that's available to us, that the timetable that the president has laid out still seems to be viable and does not significantly increase the risks to anybody," Gates told reporters at a news conference with his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Barak.

Netanyahu's office said Gates explained to the Israeli leader, whom he met after his talks with Barak, that the U.S. policy of engagement with Iran was "limited in time."

After traveling to Jordan and meeting King Abdullah, Gates said he had every sense that Israel would go along with the U.S. strategy, "as long as the process is not completely open-ended."

SANCTIONS

Iran says that its uranium enrichment -- a process with bomb-making potential -- is for energy. It has rejected U.S.-led demands to curb the program. This, along with the fiercely anti-Israel rhetoric from Tehran, has stirred up war fears.

Gates' visit coincides with a tour by Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, who is seeking a deal with Israel for a settlement freeze on land Palestinians want for a state.

After meeting Israeli President Shimon Peres, following talks with Barak on Sunday, Mitchell gave no indication whether Israel and the United States were any closer toward resolving a dispute over Obama's call for a Jewish settlement freeze.

Barak endorsed the U.S. strategy on Iran but said any negotiations should be kept to a tight schedule and girded by readiness to impose tougher U.N. sanctions.

He also kept open the possibility that Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's sole nuclear power, could attack the Iranians pre-emptively -- a region-rattling scenario that finds little public favor in Washington.

"We clearly believe that no option should be removed from the table ... We recommend to others to take the same position but we cannot dictate it to anyone," Barak said.

Seeking to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Mitchell, who paid a brief visit to Egypt on Monday, was due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas later in the West Bank.

Abbas has said he would not resume peace talks with Israel, suspended for the past six months, until it halted all settlement activity.

In remarks to reporters, Mitchell praised Israel's easing over the past several months of travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank and the performance of Palestinian security forces loyal to Abbas and whose training is funded by the United States.

Mitchell repeated a call for Arab states to take "meaningful steps toward normalization of relations with Israel," a move that could help Netanyahu persuade his right-leaning cabinet approve limitations on Israeli settlement on land Palestinians want for a state.

(Writing by Dan Williams, Editing by Alison Williams)