Netanyahu Heads To The US, To Counter Iran’s Charm Offensive
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was flying out Saturday night for a four-day visit to the United States, during which he will lay out Israel’s concerns over the thaw in Western-Iranian ties that has been developing at breathtaking pace in the last few days and culminated Friday with a phone call between the American and Iranian presidents.
The prime minister has said he regards Iran’s outreach as a “smokescreen” designed to “fool” the West while the regime advances toward a nuclear weapons capability. He has set out conditions that he wants the international community to maintain before any lessening of economic sanctions.
On Monday, Netanyahu is scheduled to meet US President Barack Obama at the White House. A day later, he will be the final world leader to address this year’s United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Netanyahu’s meeting with Obama will mark the first time the two leaders have sat together since the American president’s March visit to Israel, and, more dramatically, since the historic phone call between Obama and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, the latest in a series of developments last week that signaled a warming of ties between the new nations. The last time a sitting US president spoke to a sitting Iranian president was before the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Netanyahu, whose El AL plane was to taking at 12:25 a.m. on Sunday morning, issued no immediate comment on the Obama-Rouhani conversation and instructed his ministers to remain mum. The prime minister intends to discuss Israel’s position on the Iranian president’s charm offensive – which included more benevolent rhetoric on ties with the US and the West, a stated willingness to compromise on transparency of the Iranian nuclear program and an acknowledgement that the Holocaust occurred – during his meetings with senior US officials. He will also make a public plea against easing the sanctions on the regime during his speech Tuesday at the General Assembly.
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http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-heads-to-the-us-to-battle-irans-charm-offensive/
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