Israel and US to Form Strategic Working Group on Iran: Report
by Algemeiner Staff
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government will form a strategic working group with the US on a possible new nuclear deal between the Iran, according to an Axios report — the latest indication that Israel will attempt to engage the Biden Administration on the issue.
Israel will reconvene a working group that was originally established with the Obama administration in 2009, during early negotiations over what would become the 2015 accord.
The news comes a day after Netanyahu gave a speech in which he said Israel would prevent Iran from getting the bomb whether or not it reaches a deal with the US, saying, “We are not pinning our hopes on any agreement with an extremist regime.”
Netanyahu added Tuesday that Israel would “do everything” in order to prevent a nuclear Iran, “with or without agreements.”
The new forum will be headed by the US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his Israeli counterpart Meir Ben-Shabbat, and will include high-level security and intelligence officials.
The idea to reconvene the group was proposed by Sullivan, according to Axios, and taken up by the Israeli cabinet on Monday. At the cabinet meeting, the heads of the Mossad and the IDF strongly advised dialogue with the US rather than the more direct opposition Netanyahu adopted during the Obama administration. Ultimately, Sullivan’s proposal was accepted.
Israel will use the first meeting of the group to present its latest intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program to the US, which will also present its own assessment, in order to create a “mutual intelligence baseline.”