US reaffirms close ties with Israel amid nuclear discussion with Iran

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan committed to keeping Israel informed over concerns of Iran’s nuclear program and progress by the U.S. to return to the 2015 Obama-era nuclear agreement that former President Trump withdrew from in 2018.

Sullivan met in Washington Tuesday with his Israeli counterpart, national security advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat, the White House said in a statement.

The two discussed “their serious concerns about advancements in Iran’s nuclear program in recent years,” the White House statement read.

Sullivan also updated Ben-Shabbat on talks in Vienna between the U.S. and the international participants of the nuclear agreement, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is aimed at finding a solution to bring both the U.S. and Iran back into compliance with the deal simultaneously.

The U.S. is looking for a way to lift specific sanctions imposed on Iran by the former Trump administration that are inconsistent with the nuclear agreement while pushing for Tehran to reverse course on a number of violations of the deal that have put the Islamic Republic on a pathway towards achieving a nuclear weapon.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is peaceful and has demanded that the U.S. lift all sanctions, an estimated 1,500, that were imposed over the Trump years.

Israel has maintained stringent opposition to the U.S. re-entering the deal and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated Israel’s readiness to take action against Iran over its nuclear program.

Iranian officials blamed Israel for a mysterious attack carried out on April 11 against its Natanz nuclear facility, heightening already fraught tensions following back-and-forth attacks on Israeli- and Iranian-owned ships in gulf waters. 

A number of other mysterious attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities and assassinations of nuclear scientists in Iran are widely suspected to have been carried out by Israel, despite silence from Jerusalem. 

Biden administration officials have said they are committed to closely communicating with Israel over the U.S. push to reenter the JCPOA while also reaffirming America’s support for Israel’s security concerns.

“The United States and Israel agreed on the significant threat posed by Iran’s aggressive behavior in the region, and U.S. officials underscored President Biden’s unwavering support for Israel’s right to defend itself,” the White House said.

The U.S. and Israel agreed to establish an inter-agency working group to counter the “growing threat” of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Precision Guided Missiles produced by Iran and provided to its proxies in the Middle East, the statement continued. 

The meeting between the White House and Israeli officials was delayed by a day amid an escalation in conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi canceled his travel to Washington.

Militants in Gaza fired at least 40 rockets into southern Israel over the weekend, with air raid sirens sounding over the course of Monday and Tuesday signaling more incoming rocket fire, according to the IDF. 

The White House condemned the rocket fire, as well as shared concerns over conflict occurring in Jerusalem, where clashes between Palestinians and, largely, right-wing Israelis have escalated over roiling religious and political tensions, with dozens of arrests and hundreds injured over the past week. 

The U.S. welcomed the call by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s for “calm on all sides.”