Israel tells US it has serious reservations about Iran nuke deal

ROME • Israel has serious reservations about the Iran nuclear deal being put together in Vienna, new Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told his American counterpart, as he pledged to fix "the mistakes made" in US-Israeli ties in recent years.

In their first face-to-face meeting since Israel's new government was sworn in, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Mr Lapid had a very positive and warm discussion on Sunday, said US officials.

The main topics were the nuclear deal and Israel's normalisation accords with Arab nations, as well as humanitarian aid to Gaza and the status of East Jerusalem, a topic that helped fuel the latest wave of violence between the Israelis and Palestinians in May.

"Israel has some serious reservations about the Iran nuclear deal that is being put together in Vienna. We believe the way to discuss those disagreements is through direct and professional conversations, not in press conferences," Mr Lapid said in remarks ahead of the meeting in Rome.

Iran and the United States have been holding indirect talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Teheran and major powers that imposed curbs on Teheran's nuclear activities in exchange for lifting international sanctions.

The US, under the Trump administration, abandoned the deal and reimposed harsh sanctions, prompting Iran to respond by violating many of its restrictions.

Mr Blinken told Mr Lapid that Washington would remain in close contact with Israel over the Iran negotiations, US officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has hewed to the opposition of his conservative predecessor to the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal because caps on projects with bomb-making potential are deemed too lax by Israel .

US President Joe Biden has repeatedly expressed Washington's support for Israel but has been more measured in his approach than Mr Donald Trump.

Mr Lapid acknowledged the need for repair: "In the past few years, mistakes were made. Israel's bipartisan standing was hurt. We will fix those mistakes together."

Mr Blinken also reiterated to Mr Lapid Washington's concerns over Israeli attempts to evict Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, and the status of the city's al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site, during Ramadan.

Mr Blinken also conveyed to Mr Lapid the necessity of getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza, where 250 Palestinians were killed and scores of buildings were destroyed by Israeli air strikes.

Mr Biden has worked to repair ties with the Palestinians and abandon what was seen as the one-sided US policy towards the conflict. His administration has pledged to resume hundreds of millions of dollars in economic and humanitarian assistance and work towards reopening the Palestinians' diplomatic mission in Washington.

Meanwhile, Mr Biden was set to meet Israel's outgoing President Reuven Rivlin at the White House yesterday. The meeting came amid concerns in Israel and Arab nations about US efforts to re-enter the nuclear deal because of fears that a resumption of the accord may eventually allow Teheran to acquire atomic weapons that would leave them vulnerable to Iranian intimidation or military threat.

REUTERS