Jerusalem consulted with Washington<\/a> on two previous strikes on Iran: one in June against a facility producing centrifuges in Karaj, and another on a missile production site outside Tehran, The New York Times reported.<\/p>\nUS President Joe Biden asked his National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan two months ago to review plans to attack Iran if diplomatic efforts fail, as well as the possibilities for increasing sanctions, according to the Times.<\/p>\n
That leak comes as the US and Israel are increasingly at odds in their evaluation of the Iranian threat. Israeli officials continue to be deeply concerned that in the recently resumed negotiations in Vienna, Washington will seek an interim deal lifting sanctions on Tehran while insufficiently restricting its nuclear program.<\/p>\n
Blinken spoke with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Friday.<\/p>\n
According to the State Department, they discussed topics \u201cincluding the enduring importance of the US-Israel bilateral relationship, Israeli-Palestinian issues, and regional developments, such as our shared conviction that Iran must not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the Foreign Ministry, Lapid told Blinken that \u201ceven if there is a return to negotiations, sanctions on Iran must not be lifted. The money the Iranians will receive will reach our doorstep in the form of terrorism and missiles.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conversation was \u201cwarm, productive and open,\u201d Israel\u2019s MFA said in a readout, and included topics such as \u201cjoint efforts to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear threshold state, Minister Lapid\u2019s visit to Cairo, the arrival of new US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides, and expanding the circle of peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
State Department Spokesperson Ned Price commented on Thursday on US-Israel discussions of alternative ways to counter the Iranian nuclear threat if negotiations in Vienna collapse.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to speak to what we might be contemplating if the path to diplomacy toward a mutual return to compliance isn\u2019t viable in the near term,\u201d Price said. \u201cBut we are discussing those alternatives. We are discussing those options with our close partners, with our close allies, and that includes with the Israelis. We have already had good discussions with the Israelis about the path forward, and how we can work together to ensure that Iran is never able to acquire a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gantz addressed the Israel American Council summit in Miami on Friday, saying that Iran is a great threat to Israel but first and foremost to the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why the international community, with US leadership, must stand together and act forcefully against Iran\u2019s hegemonic aspirations and nuclear program and restore stability for the sake of global peace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The consultations in Washington were \u201cexcellent,\u201d the defense minister said, and they included ways to ensure Israel\u2019s qualitative military edge in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Gantz said he spoke with the Americans about how to keep the pressure on Iran with the aim of keeping them away from a nuclear capability, and to take advantage of Iranian vulnerabilities \u2013 particularly economic \u2013 that could be used to persuade them to suspend nuclear activity.<\/p>\n
His impression from the meetings in Washington was that the fate of the negotiations in Vienna would be determined in the near future. \u201cI think that in the coming weeks we will know where we stand,\u201d Gantz said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A senior diplomatic source said on Friday that the Americans did not voice opposition to the Israeli preparations for a military strike on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":246685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Iran","category-Israel_Anti-Semitism_Zionism_and_US-UK_allies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=246973"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246977,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246973\/revisions\/246977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/246685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=246973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=246973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=246973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}