Israel is pressing the Trump administration to recognize its sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, an Israeli cabinet minister said on Wednesday, predicting U.S. assent could come within months.

Interviewed by Reuters, Intelligence Minister Israel Katz described endorsement of Israel's 51-year-old hold on the Golan as the proposal now "topping the agenda" in bilateral diplomatic talks with the United States.

Any such move would be seen as a follow-up on the U.S. exit from the international nuclear deal with Iran, and President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the opening of a new U.S. embassy there this month. Trump's moves were hailed by Israel and caused deep concern among major European allies of Washington.

"We meet with Israel on a wide range of issues," a White House official said, but declined to confirm any of the details provided by Katz about the Golan.

Katz, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, cast the Golan proposal as a potential extension of the Trump administration's confrontational tack against perceived regional expansion and aggression by Iran, Israel's arch-enemy. "This is the perfect time to make such a move. The most painful response you can give the Iranians is to recognize Israel's Golan sovereignty - with an American statement, a presidential proclamation, enshrined [in law]," he said.

The Golan Heights form a strategic plateau between Israel and Syria of about 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles). It was part of Syria until Israel captured it in the 1967 Middle East war. It moved Israeli settlers into the area that it occupied, and annexed the territory in 1981, in a move not recognized internationally. In 2000, Israel and Syria held their highest-level talks over a possible return of the Golan and a peace agreement. But the negotiations collapsed and subsequent talks mediated by Turkey failed.