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Netanyahu and top Trump aide call on Europe to pressure Iran
JERUSALEM, Aug 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser met in
Jerusalem Monday and called on European nations to do more to pressure Iran.
John Bolton arrived in Israel on Sunday for three days of talks expected
to focus mainly on Iran and its presence in Syria.
Netanyahu strongly urged Trump to withdraw from the nuclear deal between
Israel’s main enemy Iran and world powers, and the US president did so in
May, resulting in the reimposition of sanctions.
Israel and the United States have been closely aligned on their approach
to Iran since Trump took office.
“I frankly believe that all countries who care about peace and security in
the Middle East should follow America’s lead and ratchet up the pressure on
Iran,” Netanyahu told journalists.
“Because the greater the pressure on Iran, the greater the chance that the
regime will roll back its aggression. And everybody should join this effort.”
The comments were a veiled reference to European countries, which are
seeking to save the nuclear deal and have vowed to keep providing Iran with
the economic benefits it received from the accord.
They argue that the nuclear deal is working as intended in keeping Iran
from obtaining nuclear weapons for now.
Bolton said “it’s a question of the highest importance for the United
States that Iran never get a deliverable nuclear weapons capability.”
“It’s why President Trump withdrew from the wretched Iran nuclear deal,”
he said, speaking alongside Netanyahu.
“It’s why we’ve worked with our friends in Europe to convince them of the
need to take stronger steps against the Iranian nuclear weapons and ballistic
missile programme.”
The United States and Israel argue the deal was too limited in scope and
timeframe while also allowing Iran to finance militant activities in the
region due to the lifting of sanctions.
Bolton’s trip will also take him later in the week to Ukraine and Geneva,
where he will meet with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev on
Thursday.
The meeting in Geneva is a follow-up to Trump’s highly controversial July
summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, according to the
White House.
Iran is backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his country’s civil
war along with Russia and Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
Netanyahu has pledged to prevent Iran from entrenching itself militarily
in neighbouring Syria, and a series of recent strikes that have killed
Iranians there have been attributed to Israel.
He has also pressed Putin to guarantee that Iranian forces in Syria and
their allies, such as Hezbollah, will be kept far away from the Israeli-
occupied Golan Heights.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1500 hrs