(AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that they were united on issues including trade and Iran. “The call went very well — We are on the same side of every issue,” Trump said on his social media platform.
The United States and Iran launched talks this month on Tehran’s nuclear program, first in Oman and then in Rome, and these discussions are due to resume this week. Trump told reporters Monday his administration had had good meetings with the Iranians. Iran the same day accused Israel of trying to “undermine” the discussions.
The New York Times reported last week that Trump had dissuaded Israel from attacking Iranian nuclear sites in the short term, saying he wanted to give diplomacy a chance. Netanyahu warned that even if Washington continued talks with Iran, Israel would never allow it to develop a nuclear weapon.
Western powers and Israel, considered by experts the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, have long accused Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons. Iran has always denied the charge, insisting its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only. In 2018, Donald Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark nuclear deal signed three years earlier that eased sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
A year later, Iran began to gradually breach the terms of the deal, most notably by enriching uranium to high levels. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran has enriched uranium to 60 percent, close to the 90 percent level needed to manufacture weapons, and continues to accumulate large stocks of fissile material. The 2015 nuclear deal restricted it to 3.67 percent.
© 2024 AFP
