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Israeli Defense Minister: U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis Is Completely With Us on Iran

(Ynet News) Ronen Bergman - Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with his American counterpart in Munich on Friday for the first time since former Gen. James Mattis assumed the role of secretary of defense, telling him that the three central problems that need to be dealt with were "Iran, Iran and Iran." Lieberman told Yediot Ahronot on Saturday, "Defense Secretary Mattis is even stricter and harsher than us in his positions on Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas. There is no need to convince him of anything. He's completely with us." Former "Defense Secretary (Ashton) Carter was also a supporter of Israel and we saw things eye-to-eye; he was the most pro-Israel official in the Obama administration." However, "it's clear now that this is a different administration, which is going to take decisive measures." In 2013, when the U.S. launched secret talks with Iran, President Obama ordered a significant reduction in U.S. actions against Tehran. "We know you were angry when President Obama ordered to halt some of the operations against Iran in early 2013," American officials told their Israeli colleagues on Friday. "We're working to rectify the situation." On Saturday, Lieberman met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, where he demanded that any agreement in Syria include the complete halt of arms transfers to Hizbullah.
2017-02-20 00:00:00
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