The Israeli Prime Minister has been included in Time Magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world for the second consecutive year.

Benjamin Netanyahu was described as an iconic Israeli in a biography written for the magazine by Eric Cantor, the House Majority leader and the only Jewish Republican in congress.

Mr Cantor said the Israeli leader should be ranked among the world's greats for his "accomplishments and service as a soldier, a diplomat, an economic reformer who took on the difficult and politically perilous task of challenging the status quo".

He said the 62 year old deserved credit "for drawing attention to the threat Iran poses to Israel, to America, to the region, to its own people and to the free world.

"Confronting Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and sponsorship of terrorism is an urgent task for all of us. At this perilous moment, Prime Minister Netanyahu is the right leader for Israel - and the right partner for America."

Others on the list included film mogul Harvey Weinstein and Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook.