Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is scheduled to travel to Washington to meet with US President Joe Biden next Thursday.
“Towards the end of the month, I am expected to go to the US, coronavirus permitting, for an important meeting with President Biden,” Bennett said in a press conference on Wednesday. “The topic of Iran will be central.”
“Iran is at the most advanced point ever in [uranium] enrichment, but we have a plan to deal with it and protect the security of the people of Israel,” he said.
Bennett said that the government has thoroughly examined the Iranian threat, in all of its facets, and put together a new strategy.
“We will be coming [to the White House] very focused, with an approach of partnership, an approach meant to stop the negative regional actions of Iran – its destabilizing, harming human rights and terrorism – and preventing Iran from getting close to nuclear breakout,” the prime minister stated.
The Bennett and Biden administrations have been working to plan a meeting between the leaders since the former entered office in June. Bennett would not schedule the trip before the Knesset went into recess, because of his razor-thin majority and the opposition’s endless filibustering.
Bennett’s strategy on the matter of the Iranian nuclear threat is dramatically different from that of his predecessor. This is largely due to his willingness to work with the Biden administration and European partners on the matter even as the policy is to negotiate a return to the 2015 nuclear deal, which Israel firmly opposes.
The more international approach was put into action after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched a drone attack on the Mercer Street, a tanker managed by an Israeli-owned company, killing its Romanian captain and a British security guard.
Israel shared intelligence with the UK and US showing Iran was behind the bombing and pushed for UN Security Council action. Photos later released by the Pentagon show components of a UAV that match Iranian drones.
Jerusalem and Washington closely coordinated their response to the Mercer Street attack, and the G7 condemned Iran for it.