Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett heads to Washington Tuesday for talks with US President Joe Biden, seeking to "reset" relations with Israel's closest ally and reach common ground on arch-foe Iran.
In his first state visit since taking office in June, Bennett will meet Biden on Thursday and attempt to mend ties with America's top Democrat, which were strained under former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, accused of openly favoring the Republican party.
"Right now the biggest transaction taking place between the two countries is a refresh and a reset of bilateral relations," Scott Lasensky, former president Barack Obama's senior policy advisor on Israel, told AFP.
Netanyahu alienated Democratic leaders through his relentless public criticism of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers negotiated by the Obama administration, in which Biden served as vice president.
Netanyahu's tight embrace of Obama's successor -- president Donald Trump, whom he repeatedly called "the best friend" Israel ever had in the White House -- further rankled Biden's party.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid hinted at a new approach when he met his US counterpart Antony Blinken in June.
"In the past few years mistakes were made. Israel's bipartisan standing was hurt. We will fix those mistakes together," Lapid said.
While Bennett may aim to warm the diplomatic waters, he remains a foreign policy hawk staunchly opposed to the Iran accord, which lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful but has progressively withdrawn from key commitments, including on uranium enrichment, in response to sanctions imposed by Trump after he unilaterally yanked the US out of the deal in 2018.
"I will tell President Biden that it is time to stop the Iranians... not to give them a lifeline in the form of re-entering into an expired nuclear deal," the 49-year-old Israeli premier said Sunday.
Bennett's meeting with Biden, 78, comes two months after talks in Vienna on reviving the deal broke up without any discernible progress.
Or Rabinowitz, an expert on nuclear proliferation and US-Israel relations at the Hebrew University, told AFP she thinks "the Iranian issue will top the agenda" at the meeting.
"Israel wants to set a new jargon", or understanding, with the US over what would constitute Iran crossing a threshold toward building a nuclear weapon, she said.
Bennett suggested that approach Sunday, saying, "we will present an orderly plan that we have formulated in the past two months to curb the Iranians." He offered no specifics.
