President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak Sunday evening about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the fate of the nuclear agreement with Iran, among other issues, the prime minister’s office announced Sunday morning.
“There are many issues between us including the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the situation in Syria and the Iranian threat,” Netanyahu’s office said in a transcript of a Netanyahu’s statement at an Israeli cabinet meeting.
Trump frequently criticized the Obama administration’s nuclear agreement with Iran, suggesting that he might dismantle it after taking office. Several of his Cabinet members, such as Rep. Mike Pompeo, Trump’s nominee for CIA director, have also blasted the deal.
“I would like to make it clear, contrary to reports that I have read, that stopping the Iranian threat, and first and foremost the threat reflected in the bad nuclear agreement that was signed with Iran, continues to be a supreme goal of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said in his statement.
Trump was particularly critical of the Obama administration when, in an eleventh-hour shift of U.S. policy, it allowed a resolution to pass through the United Nations Security Council that rebuked Israel for building settlements on disputed land.
Netanyahu said he and Trump would discuss the settlements during their phone call.
“On the issue of settlement, none are more concerned about it than the Likud government and I,” Netanyahu said of the political party he leads. “[W]e will continue to look out for it wisely and responsibly, for the benefit of the settlement enterprise and the State of Israel.”
Trump has pledged to repair the U.S.-Israel relationship, which became tense under his predeccesor.
His call with Netanyahu will follow conversations with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, which Trump conducted on Saturday.
