Iran's nuclear program and threats posed by Tehran will be discussed when US national security adviser Jake Sullivan travels to Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government. "I'll be going to Israel and that will be a substantial topic of conversation when I go," he said. Speaking to reporters traveling with President Joe Biden on a trip to Mexico City, Sullivan did not say when his trip would take place. A National Security Council spokesperson said dates were still being worked out.
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Sullivan said efforts to revive an Iran nuclear deal opposed by Israel had been set aside for now while Washington pressures Iran to stop sending drones to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine and seeks to stop a crackdown on Iranian demonstrators.
Israel has opposed Biden's attempts to revive the Iran nuclear deal, concerned that it will not stop Tehran's development of a nuclear weapon.
"We'll have the opportunity to engage deeply with the new Israeli government on the threat posed by Iran. And I think we share the same fundamental objectives. And we will work through any differences we have on tactics, the same way that we have over the course of the past two years," Sullivan said, adding that the restoration of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the West was on the back burner.
"We've made clear that our priority right now is not the JCPOA. This is not the moment or the context to place priority on that," Sullivan said, echoing what the State Department told Israel Hayom in recent days.
In Jerusalem, Netanyahu said he would discuss Iran with the American team. "The time has come for Israel and the US to be on the same page, together with states – I expect to discuss this with President Biden and his staff. There is now more unanimity on the subject than at any other time," Netanyahu said.
State Department Spokesperson Ned Price echoed Sullivan on Monday, saying, "Even if the Iranians did come back tomorrow, we have a track record here, unfortunately," Price continued. "We…have been have been down this road with them." He added, ""We want to see this resolved diplomatically... But we're going to, in the absence of any real interest in diplomacy on the part of the Iranians, continue to keep our focus on supporting the Iranian people, keep our focus on countering…Iran security assistance to Russia."
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