Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, said on Monday that Israel is “very comfortable” with the US sale of F-35 jets to the United Arab Emirates, noting that the real threat to the region remains Iran and its nuclear aspirations.
“We strongly believe this agreement, this arms package, will not violate the US commitment to maintain Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge,” Dermer said on an interview on MSNBC, in which he appeared together with the UAE ambassador to the US, Yousef al Ottaiba.
“What keeps me up at night isn’t the sale of the F-35 to the UAE. It’s the idea that someone would return to the nuclear deal with Iran,” he added, noting, that the UAE “is an ally in confronting Iran.”
"Both Israel and the Arab States in the region don't support returning back to the JCPOA (the official name of the 2015 Iran deal -ed.), and we hope that the administration will talk to us when they come in," continued Dermer.
He expressed hope that the new administration would “speak to your allies in the region, speak to Israel, speak to the Arab states. Try to forge a common policy with us because we are on the front lines, and we are in danger from an aggressive Iran.”
US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement in May of 2018 and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Iran has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 deal in response.
However, US President-elect Joe Biden, has said he would rejoin the deal and told The New York Times this week that he would do so if Iran returned to compliance with it.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday stressed that his country will not agree to renegotiate the 2015 nuclear deal and urged Biden to abandon what he described as Washington's "rogue" behavior in withdrawing from the agreement.