US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Israel's Foreign Minister on Wednesday.
"Great speaking with Gabi Ashkenazi today to discuss the steadfast partnership between the U.S. and Israel," Blinken wrote. "Our commitment to Israel’s security is sacrosanct, and I look forward to working with the Foreign Minister and others toward our common goals".
Ashkenazi related to the call as well and wrote: "I had a warm call with Sec. Blinken & affirmed Israel's commitment to the robust Israeli-US strategic partnership. I welcomed very much the President's commitment to Israel's security. We discussed the challenges in our region, as well as the opportunities for peace & normalization. We agreed to keep in constant touch and close coordination".
Earlier Blinken reiterated his stance that Iran must resume complying with the 2015 nuclear deal before Washington would do so.
"President Biden has been very clear in saying that if Iran comes back into full compliance with its obligations under the JCPOA, the United States would do the same thing," Blinken told reporters.
If Iran returns to the deal, the US would seek to build a “longer and stronger agreement” that would deal with other “deeply problematic” issues, he added.
“Iran is out of compliance on a number of fronts and it would take some time, should it make the decision to do so, for it to come back into compliance and time for us then to assess whether it was meeting its obligations,” Blinken said, stressing, “We are not there yet, to say the least.”
Biden has taken a different approach to the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers than former President Donald Trump, who withdrew from the 2015 agreement nearly three years ago.
Iran, in turn, has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 deal.
Biden has expressed a desire to return to the 2015 agreement and recently told The New York Times that he would return to the 2015 agreement if Iran returned to compliance with it.
Iran has made clear that it will not renegotiate the original agreement. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, last week urged Biden to "choose a better path" by returning to the 2015 deal and warned that the opportunity would be lost if Washington insists on further Iranian concessions up front.
