Gantz: Israel should work with US on Iran

Israel should work with the United States on the Iranian nuclear file, adding that there is a need for international mobilisation in this regard, Defence Minister Benny Gantz said yesterday.

“We are obligated, with regard to Iran, to influence our partners and establish an ongoing dialogue… Israel is also obligated to build and develop a military force,” Gantz said during a visit to Morocco.

Remarking on the talks scheduled between the world powers and Iran next week and which aim to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement, Gantz said a good agreement is the one that “closes the gaps in the existing agreement in the areas of nuclear development, missile systems and their ranges, and what Iran is doing in the region”.

Gantz has criticised the policy of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in dealing with the United States, saying Tel Aviv should have “dialogue with both sides of American policy, and not slip into American politics as happened in the past”.

READ: Gantz’s housekeeper accused of spying on him for Iran, says Shin Bet 

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper quoted an Israeli security official, who is also in Morocco, as saying that Gantz had discussed during his visit to Morocco, the Iranian activities in the region and Africa as well as Tehran’s attempts to position itself in other countries.

“There is an understanding here and in other countries that there is an Iranian conspiracy,” Haaretz quoted the source as saying.

The Israeli security official from Morocco added that Iran “acted in the region against Iranian arms, in coordination with these countries.”

Gantz yesterday ended a visit to Morocco, during which he met the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence, as well as the Chief of Staff of the Moroccan Army.

Israeli and Moroccan officials signed agreements on security cooperation and arms exports.