US, Israel hold talks on Iran nuclear diplomacy, security threats

Bilateral talks come as Biden seeks to restore the 2015 UN-backed Iran nuclear deal abandoned by Trump.

Officials from the United States and Israel met by video conference Thursday to discuss the two countries’ security challenges in the Middle East, as well as the Biden administration’s plan to re-engage diplomacy with Iran on nuclear weapons. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his Israeli counterpart, Meir Ben-Shabbat, took part in the first US-Israel bilateral security meeting since President Joe Biden took office in January. It came as the Biden administration was seeking a return to a 2015 nuclear deal that saw Iran agree to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of international sanctions.