UNITED NATIONS, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid called on Thursday for a two-state solution to decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reasserted that Israel would do "whatever it takes" to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

His mention of a two-state solution, the first by an Israeli leader in years at the United Nations General Assembly, echoed U.S.

Widely believed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear weapons, Israel regards Iran as an existential threat.

Tehran denies trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides called Lapid's speech "courageous" for supporting the two-state solution.

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day.

Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.