Iran is building up its forces in the western part of its territory to launch attacks on Middle Eastern countries, including Israel, Defense Minister Benny Gantz told defense officials in Washington on Friday.
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In a briefing he gave US officials and researchers, Gantz pointed to the spread of Iranian aggression and detailed the deployment of Iranian-allied militias in the Middle East, as well as the weapons in their possession.
Gantz told members of a Washington-based research institute that in the past few months, "disturbing numbers" had come to light about Iran's regional aggression. Gantz referred to the exposure of a base in Kashan, where Iranian satellites train to operate suicide drones; and the discovery that Iran was carrying out drone attacks from within its own borders.
The defense minister said that Iran's goal was to gain control over the region and spread its ideology throughout the world.
As negotiations between Iran and the signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal restarted talks on a new deal in Vienna on Thursday, Gantz met with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ahead of a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
In his meeting with Austin, Gantz thanked the US defense chief for helping strengthen ties between Israel and the US, and for being a true friend to Israel.
At the start of the meeting, Austin said that Iran had failed to offer constructive diplomatic engagement in talks that US President Joe Biden had hoped would revive a 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.
Video: Defense Ministry
Austin said Biden was "prepared to turn to other options" if the current American policy on Iran fails.
"We are completely aligned in our commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. This is a national security interest of the United States and Israel and the world," Austin said.
Gantz described Iran, Israel's arch foe, as "the biggest threat to the global and regional peace and stability."
Gantz said that Israel and the US would broaden discussion about cooperation on the Iranian issue, including preparedness for a joint military action to stop "Iranian aggressions."
Ties between the US and Israel are based on "shared valued" and "shared strategic interests," Gantz told Austin.
The defense minister told his US counterpart that Israel's defense superiority, which he said the US helped anchor, protected not only the security of the citizens of Israel but also helped Israel "strengthen positive trends in the region, extend its hand to its neighbors, and work to expand the Abraham Accords."
Meanwhile, Iran's top negotiator said on Thursday he was sticking to positions Tehran set out when nuclear talks broke off last week, while European Union and Russian envoys called for more urgency as world powers resumed negotiations in Vienna.
However, last week's discussions broke off with European and US officials voicing dismay at sweeping demands by Iran's new, hardline government under anti-Western President Ebrahim Raisi, whose June election caused a five-month hiatus in the talks.
Western officials have said Iran has abandoned many compromises it had made in the previous six rounds of talks, pocketed those made by others, and demanded more last week.
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