US President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton held talks for a second day on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US official had arrived in Israel on Sunday for talks on Syria and the crisis with Iran and the aftermath of the US pullout from the 2015 nuclear deal and re-imposition of economic sanctions. He also addressed with Netanyahu the Gaza Strip and how to improve the humanitarian situation there despite the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to cooperate with the US administration and the Israeli government.
"I frankly believe that all countries who care about peace and security in the Middle East should follow America's lead and ratchet up the pressure on Iran," Netanyahu told journalists.
"Because the greater the pressure on Iran, the greater the chance that the regime will roll back its aggression. And everybody should join this effort."
The comments were a veiled reference to European countries, which are seeking to save the nuclear deal and have vowed to keep providing Iran with the economic benefits it received from the accord.
Bolton said "it's a question of the highest importance for the United States that Iran never get a deliverable nuclear weapons capability."
"It's why President Trump withdrew from the wretched Iran nuclear deal," he said, speaking alongside Netanyahu.
Bolton's visit is significant because it is intended to conclude the Russian-American understandings on the situation in Syria and the security arrangements in the war-torn country, political sources in Tel Aviv stressed.
It comes following the meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in July, where they agreed on the principles of settling the situation there.
Bolton will discuss the principles and meet with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev in Geneva for this purpose.
Choosing to visit Israel before heading to Geneva underlines the importance of the Israeli position towards Syria for the US administration.
Israel has been demanding the complete end of the Iranian presence in Syria, whether through its Revolutionary Guards, Lebanese “Hezbollah” group, or allied militias.
Netanyahu has pledged to prevent Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, and a series of recent strikes that have killed Iranians there have been attributed to Israel.
Parties in Israel have recently been calling on Netanyahu’s government to bypass the Russians and engage in direct negotiations with head of the Syrian regime Bashar al-Assad.
"After Assad's victory, he no longer needs the Iranians. Instead, he is aware today that the Iranian presence in Syria threatens its security,” these parties noted.
“Americans agree with the Russians and the Israelis that Syria should be rid of Iran, but they realize that this is not an easy task,” an official with Bolton stated, adding that Iran is not rushing out and does not understand that its Russian allies are demanding its departure.
Political ways should first be sought to persuade Iranian forces to leave, such as including it in the US economic sanctions against Iran and making it understand that remaining in Syria will be costly than the cost of the war itself.
Netanyahu pledged to prevent Iran from establishing its military presence in Syria after Israel was accused of carrying out a series of strikes, killing Iranian elements.
