US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attending a press conference with his Israeli counterpart. March 27, 2022
Israel and the United States will cooperate in preventing a nuclear-armed Iran despite some disagreements, foreign minister Yair Lapid said on Sunday.
"We have disagreements about a nuclear agreement and its consequences, but open and honest dialogue is part of the strength of our friendship. Israel and the United States will continue to work together to prevent a nuclear Iran”, Lapid said during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
An unnamed Israeli official has said the multilateral meeting between the US, UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt on Sunday has a clear message for the Islamic Republic.
Egypt and Jordan were not formally invited to the meeting that is described as a summit for the signatories of the Abraham Accords, the normalization pacts which US brokered between Israel and several Arab states.
On Friday, Jordan’s King Abdullah II hosted Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi in the Red Sea port city of Aqaba for a “consultative brotherly meeting dealt with recent international and regional developments”.
Leaders of Egypt, Israel and the United Arab Emirates also met on March 22 in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Except a mention of the Ukraine crisis and Iran, there is little information about what were discussed in all these meetings before Blinken’s arrival in the region but it could be part of efforts to present a united regional front on Iran issues.