Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss the continuing negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
The urgent meeting comes after Mr Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks in Oman with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to potentially restart nuclear negotiations.
“The Prime Minister believes that any negotiations should include placing limitations on the ballistic missiles and a cessation of support for the Iranian axis,” Mr Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday, announcing the meeting. Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly voiced opposition to a nuclear deal and sanctions relief for Iran without any change to its ballistic missile programme.
Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday evening that a deal with Iran that only covered the nuclear issues “would be acceptable”.
But Israel sees the current diplomacy, launched after Mr Trump threatened Iran’s leaders over their bloody crackdown on domestic protests, as a chance for more sweeping countermeasures and even regime change.
Dina Esfandiary, a Middle East expert at Bloomberg Geoeconomics, told The National that Mr Netanyahu was heading to Washington to "outline and remind" the Trump administration of Israel's red lines and expectations from the talks.
"It is an effort to convince the US to play hardball," Ms Esfindiary said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that Tehran does not “tolerate the language of force”.
“The Iran-US talks, which were held with the follow-up of friendly governments in the region, were one step forward. Dialogue has always been our strategy for peaceful resolution,” he said on Sunday.
“Our logic in the nuclear issue is the explicit rights enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” he said.
The developments come as Mr Araghchi met Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman in Doha on Saturday. They discussed regional issues and development. Gulf states, particularly mediator Oman, have been pushing for diplomacy amid growing regional tension.
Mr Araghchi told Al Jazeera that Iran’s missile programme was “never negotiable” during the talks in Oman, warning that Tehran would attack US bases in the region if an attack is conducted on Iranian soil.
However, Mr Araghchi said the talks in Muscat were “an opportunity to shake hands with the American delegation” despite being indirect.
He called the talks “a good start”, but added that building trust would take time. He said the talks would resume “soon”.
He also said that “we are a people of both war and diplomacy. If they speak to the Iranian people with the language of respect, we will respond in the same manner”.
“If they speak with the language of force, we will respond in exactly the same way.”
Israeli meddling
The expected meeting with Mr Netanyahu will be the seventh between the two leaders since Mr Trump returned to power in January last year. The meeting had been originally scheduled for February 18, according to various local reports, but allegedly was brought forward by the talks with Iran.
In June last year, the US joined an Israeli army campaign against Iran's uranium enrichment and other nuclear installations, marking the most direct American military action ever against the country. Tehran has since said its uranium enrichment work has stopped.
Iran retaliated by launching a missile attack on a US base in Qatar.
The 12-day war between Israel and Iran came at a time of negotiations between Washington and Tehran, just before a sixth round of talks was supposed to take place.
It was during Mr Netanyahu's visit to the US last year in April that Mr Trump announced that talks would begin with Iran. The negotiations were viewed with scepticism in Israel and were derailed when the country launched attacks on Iran.
The US and Israel have repeatedly warned Iran that they would strike again if Tehran pressed ahead with its enrichment and ballistic missile programmes.
Tehran's leadership remains deeply concerned that Mr Trump may still carry out his threats to strike Iran amid a build-up by the US Navy near Iran.
