U.S. Chief of Staff General Martin Dempsey said on Friday night that that Israel and the U.S. have a shared understanding of security concerns in the Middle East region. At the end of his first visit to Israel, Dempsey said his conversations with President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz helped to "advance a shared understanding of the security situation in the region." Dempsey emphasized that his main contacts during the visit were with his Israeli counterpart, Gantz. Dempsey also referred to the postponement of the "Austere Challenge 12" joint military exercise between Israel and the U.S, scheduled for April, and believed to have been rescheduled following the Obama administration's desire to defuse tension with Iran.