Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Washington on Wednesday to discuss US-Iran diplomacy with President Donald Trump, whose focus on Tehran’s nuclear program falls short of his ally’s call for more sweeping measures.
The indirect US-Iran negotiations, launched in Oman, followed Trump’s buildup of US forces in the Persian Gulf in response to Tehran’s deadly crackdown against domestic protests. The White House’s initial talk of potentially regime-destabilizing punitive action in solidarity with the Iranian dissidents has been pared back to the long-running nuclear topic.
Israel, with US reinforcements, bombed uranium enrichment and related assets in Iran during a 12-day war in June. It favors further action to deny its arch-enemy the means to develop nuclear weapons. But Netanyahu also sees in the current crisis an opportunity to clamp down on Iran’s conventional long-range weaponry and regional proxy network.
“The prime minister believes that any negotiations should include placing limitations on the ballistic missiles and a cessation of support for the Iranian axis,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Saturday announcing the Feb. 11 meeting with Trump.
After US envoys met the Iranian foreign minister in Oman on Friday, Trump told reporters that a deal covering only nuclear issues “would be acceptable.”
Netanyahu’s office on Sunday had yet to provide details of the upcoming trip, underscoring the sense that it’s been pulled together on short notice. Trump is due to convene his so-called “Board of Peace” on Feb. 19 to discuss funding for post-war Gaza. It’s unclear whether Netanyahu would return to Washington for that.
In his remarks on Friday, Trump said the first round of indirect talks with Iran were “very good,” and that there’ll be another meeting in the coming days.
“Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly. We have to see what that deal is but I think Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly, as they should,” he said.
Iran in June launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel, which sees the long-range, conventional salvos as a major threat capable of overwhelming its air defenses. It also worries about combat capabilities retained by Iran’s regional guerrilla allies — Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels of Yemen.
With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
