Jerusalem: US Secretary of State John Kerry today insisted Israel`s security is a top priority for Washington, both in nuclear talks with Iran and peace talks with the Palestinians.
Kerry is in Israel for a day of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders aimed at driving forward peace negotiations which appear to have made little headway since they began under his patronage in late July.
But Iran was also high on the agenda when he met for more than three hours with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in what was their first face-to-face meeting since a fallout over the nuclear deal struck with Iran.
"I can`t emphasise enough that Israel`s security in this negotiation (with Iran) is at the top of our agenda," Kerry said at a joint news conference in Jerusalem.
"The United States will do everything in our power to make certain that Iran`s nuclear programme of weaponisation possibilities is terminated."
Kerry also stressed the two men had spent "a very significant amount of time" discussing the peace talks with the Palestinians.
"Israel`s security is fundamental to those negotiations," he said. In the morning, Netanyahu was briefed by US special envoy on security General John Allen, Kerry said, describing his role as that of "assessing the potential threats to Israel, to the region, and ensuring that the security arrangements that we might contemplate in the context of this process, will provide for greater security for Israel".
Kerry said he and Allen had offered Netanyahu "some thoughts about that particular security challenge" in a discussion which would be continued during an evening dinner meeting, and possibly tomorrow morning.
