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.



Russia Says US Using Taiwan to Stir Crisis in Asia

Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)
Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)
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Russia Says US Using Taiwan to Stir Crisis in Asia

Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)
Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)

The United States is using Taiwan to provoke a serious crisis in Asia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told TASS news agency in remarks published on Sunday, reiterating Moscow's backing of China's stance on Taiwan.
"We see that Washington, in violation of the 'one China' principle that it recognises, is strengthening military-political contacts with Taipei under the slogan of maintaining the 'status quo', and increasing arms supplies," Rudenko told the state news agency.
"The goal of such obvious US interference in the region's affairs is to provoke the PRC (People's Republic of China) and generate a crisis in Asia to suit its own selfish interests."
The report did not cite any specific contacts that Rudenko was referring to.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a claim that Taiwan's government rejects. The US is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic recognition.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Rudenko's remarks outside office hours.
In September, President Joe Biden approved $567 million in military support for Taiwan. Russia responded that it was standing alongside China on Asian issues, including criticism of the US drive to extend its influence and "deliberate attempts" to inflame the situation around Taiwan.
China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing shortly before launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.
In May this year, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged a "new era" of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world.