Netanyahu, Bolton Adamant in Stopping Iranian Support to ‘Hezbollah’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) shakes hands with visiting US national security adviser John Bolton during a press conference at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem on August 20, 2018. AFP PHOTO/Sebastian Scheiner
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) shakes hands with visiting US national security adviser John Bolton during a press conference at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem on August 20, 2018. AFP PHOTO/Sebastian Scheiner
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Netanyahu, Bolton Adamant in Stopping Iranian Support to ‘Hezbollah’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) shakes hands with visiting US national security adviser John Bolton during a press conference at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem on August 20, 2018. AFP PHOTO/Sebastian Scheiner
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) shakes hands with visiting US national security adviser John Bolton during a press conference at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem on August 20, 2018. AFP PHOTO/Sebastian Scheiner

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton met in Jerusalem on Monday, reiterating their demand for Iran to halt its support to Lebanon’s ‘Hezbollah’.

A reliable source in Tel Aviv said that Netanyahu and Bolton discussed extensively how Iranian forces and their affiliated militias should be evacuated from Syria and how ‘Hezbollah’ should be returned to Lebanon.

“By removing the sanctions (the nuclear deal) enabled Iran to bring in billions and billions of dollars to its coffers which only fueled Iran’s war machine in Syria, and to support terrorist groups,” said Netanyahu.

He expressed gratitude to the US president for his decision to pull out from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, and to impose sanctions on the country.

Netanyahu went on to describe Trump's decision to pull out of the “terrible” Iran deal and move the US Embassy to Jerusalem as "momentous."

Bolton noted his “privilege and honor to be here in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital.”

Netanyahu responded: “Israel believes it has no greater friend and ally than the United States. And I believe that the United States has no greater friend and ally than Israel.”

“It’s a question of the highest importance for the United States that Iran never gets a deliverable nuclear weapons capability. It’s why President Trump withdrew from the wretched Iran nuclear deal. It’s why we’ve worked with our friends in Europe to convince them of the need to take stronger steps against the Iranian nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program,” said Bolton.

He met on Monday a number of security officers and politicians.

Bolton will resume his meetings on Tuesday by holding talks with Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, head of the National Security Council Meir Ben Shabat, Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and Chief of General Staff of the Israeli Army Gadi Eizenkot.



UN Nuclear Watchdog Can Guarantee Iran Will Not Develop Nuclear Weapons

Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) speaks via video during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, about the conflict between Israel and Iran, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, June 20, 2025. (Reuters)
Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) speaks via video during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, about the conflict between Israel and Iran, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, June 20, 2025. (Reuters)
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UN Nuclear Watchdog Can Guarantee Iran Will Not Develop Nuclear Weapons

Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) speaks via video during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, about the conflict between Israel and Iran, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, June 20, 2025. (Reuters)
Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) speaks via video during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, about the conflict between Israel and Iran, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, June 20, 2025. (Reuters)

UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council on Friday the International Atomic Energy Agency can do this “through a watertight inspection system.”

He said elements for an agreement on reining in Iran’s nuclear program have been discussed.

He was speaking at an emergency meeting of the Security Council about the Israel-Iran conflict.

Grossi called for “maximum restraint” in the war, adding: “A diplomatic solution is within reach if the necessary political will is there.”

He warned against any potential attack on Iran’s only commercial nuclear power plant as well as a research reactor near Tehran, saying it could lead to radiation leaks with “severe consequences.”

Even a hit that disabled the two lines supplying electrical power to the Bushehr plant “could cause its reactor core to melt, which could result in a high release of radioactivity to the environment,” he added.

Grossi said Israeli attacks on nuclear sites at Natanz and Isfahan and at the Arak heavy water plant have so far not led to any radiological release.

He said an Israeli military official erroneously reported Thursday that Bushehr was hit by an airstrike, but Israel then retracted that claim. He stressed that the confusion “underscored the vital need for clear and accurate communication.”

More on the Tehran Research Reactor

The Tehran Research Reactor is at the headquarters of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the civilian body overseeing the country’s atomic program.

The US actually provided Iran the reactor in 1967 as part of America’s “Atoms for Peace” program during the Cold War. It initially required highly enriched uranium but was later retrofitted to use low-enriched uranium over proliferation concerns

Iran’s only commercial nuclear power plant is in Bushehr on the Arabian Gulf, some 750 kilometers (465 miles) south of Tehran. Construction on the plant began under Iran’s Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the mid-1970s. After the 1979 revolution, the plant was repeatedly targeted in the Iran-Iraq war. Russia later completed construction of the facility.

Iran is building two other reactors like it at the site. Bushehr is fueled by uranium produced in Russia, not Iran, and is monitored by the IAEA.