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Netanyahu lays out campaign for US to maintain course on Iran

Israel is hoping that the new US administration will conduct an intimate strategic dialogue with Israel’s allies in the region before making a final decision on the Iran nuclear issue.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wears a face mask against Covid-19, bearing the US and Israeli flags, during a meeting with US special representative for Iran at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on June 30, 2020. (Photo by ABIR SULTAN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ABIR SULTAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration as the 46th president of the United States, a broad and fairly cohesive political coalition of Middle Eastern capitals are preparing to present the new administration in Washington with a clear and determined stand: There is no going back to the original 2015 nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran. Iran must not be rewarded for its actions. Conditions have changed as has the situation on the ground. The United States must leverage the achievements of the sanctions on Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely be the unofficial leader of this Middle Eastern front and the one to present its position in Washington. He is coordinating positions with Israel’s Gulf allies (although he has encountered recent difficulties with Saudi Arabia, angered by the leak of his late November meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman), as well as those in Amman and Cairo.

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