Lapid to meet Blinken in Washington next week

Iran is likely to be a top item on the agenda for the meeting, with talks to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, as the Biden administration hoped to do, stalled for over four months.

 ALTERNATE PRIME Minister Yair Lapid addresses his Knesset faction in July against the backdrop of his party slogan: ‘We came to change.’ ( (photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
ALTERNATE PRIME Minister Yair Lapid addresses his Knesset faction in July against the backdrop of his party slogan: ‘We came to change.’ (
(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is expected to visit Washington to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken next week.

The trip is expected to be short because Congress will not be in session and Lapid does not have meetings planned on Capitol Hill.

Iran is likely to be a top item on the agenda for the meeting, with talks to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, as the Biden administration hoped to do, stalled for over four months.

Last week, Blinken said of the negotiations: “The ball remains in their court, but not for long.”

The secretary of state explained that Iran is nearing the point of advancement in its nuclear program at which the benefits of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the 2015 deal is called, will no longer be relevant.

Antony Blinken (credit: REUTERS)
Antony Blinken (credit: REUTERS)

Lapid and Blinken previously met in Rome in June.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visited Washington at the end of August, where he met US President Joe Biden, as well as Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Lapid does not have plans to meet with Biden while in Washington next week.