Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he will discuss stopping Iran's nuclear program with U.S. President Joe Biden as he arrived at Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday ahead of his first official trip to the United States.
"We will confront many fronts, chiefly, the Iranian front and especially the step up in the Iranian nuclear program over the last two or three years," Bennett told reporters before boarding the plane.
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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks to press at Ben Gurion Airport before boarding plane ahead of U.S. trip
(Photo: GPO)
Bennett also said he the two leaders will address Israel's qualitative military edge in the Middle East, as well as other issues such as economics, technology, innovation, climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.
Bennett went on to call the Democratic president "a true friend of the State of Israel" and said that he was bringing "a new spirit of cooperation from Jerusalem" to Israel-U.S. relations.
Bennett's predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu has more than once found himself at loggerheads with U.S. officials, mainly due to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the Iran nuclear deal, which was brokered by former U.S. president Barack Obama's administration, where Biden acted as vice president.
Bennett will also advise Biden to abandon talks with Iran on reviving the deal, from which former president Donald Trump withdrew in 2018, on the premise it was no longer relevant as the incoming administration in Tehran, led by ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisi, is set to be more aggressive toward the West.
Amid reports that Iran was stepping up its uranium enrichment efforts, taking it ever closer to nuclear military capabilities, Bennett will present his host a plan to contain the Islamic Republic on all fronts, including imposing new sanctions on Iran and mobilizing more countries to act against it.