WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett are set to hold their first face-to-face meeting Thursday, August 26, and Israel's new leader intends to press Biden to give up the pursuit of reviving the Iran nuclear deal.

Prior to arriving in Washington,  Israeli Prime Bennett made clear the top priority of the visit to the White House was to persuade Biden not to return to the nuclear accord, arguing Iran has already advanced in its uranium enrichment, and that sanctions relief would give Iran more resources to back Israel’s enemies in the region. Bennett told his Cabinet ahead of the journey that he would tell the American president “that now is the time to halt the Iranians, to stop this thing” and not to reenter “a nuclear deal that has already expired and is not relevant, even to those who thought it was once relevant.”

On Wednesday, the Israeli leader met separately with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to discuss Iran and other issues. The visit was his first to the U.S. as prime minister.

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