Netanyahu convening security cabinet ahead of US-Iran nuclear talks

A day before top US officials meet Iran’s foreign minister in Oman for high-stakes nuclear talks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to convene his security cabinet to discuss the upcoming negotiations.

The Israeli deliberations were originally set to take place on Sunday, but yesterday, Netanyahu decided to move them up to this afternoon.

Yesterday, US President Donald Trump said that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “should be very worried.”

Discussions with Iran need to cover its missile and nuclear programs, its support for terror groups in the region and its treatment of its population, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday.

Iran has only shown willingness to discuss its nuclear program, albeit not on the terms demanded by the US, which wants the Islamic Republic to agree not to enrich uranium on its own territory and export all of its already enriched stockpiles out of the country, leading many to believe that the chance of success in the talks is low.

“At the end of the day, the United States is prepared to engage, and has always been prepared to engage with Iran,” Rubio said. “For talks to actually lead to something meaningful, they will have to include certain things, and that includes the range of their ballistic missiles.”

“That includes their sponsorship of terrorist organizations across the region. That includes the nuclear program. And that includes the treatment of their own people,” he added.