WASHINGTON – US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Israeli National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata agreed “to consult closely” on the threat posed by Iran, in a meeting at the White House.
According to the White House readout of the conversation on Monday, “Sullivan congratulated Dr. Hulata on his new role and emphasized that he looks forward to working together to strengthen all aspects of the US-Israel partnership.”
They also discussed “advancing the normalization of relations between Israel and countries in the Arab and Muslim world and recent positive developments in Israel’s relationship with Jordan.”
“Sullivan also stressed the importance of pursuing positive steps related to the Palestinians, which are critical to peace, security and prosperity,” the statement said.
“They discussed the upcoming visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister [Naftali] Bennett, and Mr. Sullivan conveyed that President [Joe] Biden looks forward to warmly welcoming Prime Minister Bennett to the White House soon.”
Earlier on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki addressed a question about a possible Israeli retaliatory strike on Iran following the attack on the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned petroleum tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.
During the White House daily press briefing, she said that “as a sovereign country, Israel is going to make their own decisions. But I will say that as it relates to our own engagement in nuclear talks – which we, of course, do have authorities over or do have decisions to make there – our view is that every single challenge and threat we face from Iran would be made more pronounced and dangerous by an unconstrained nuclear program.
“So, put another way, constraining Iran’s nuclear program by returning to the JCPOA will put us in a better position to address these other problems,” Psaki continued. “It doesn’t mean that it will take care of the other issues that have been ongoing concerns we’ve had with Iran. They are a bad actor on the global stage. They have threatened our own military, as we all know. But we continue to believe that pursuing a diplomatic path forward, that pursuing an opportunity to make sure we have greater visibility into what their nuclear capabilities are is in our national interest.”