US in first ending up in Israel's new foreign minister amid Iran moves
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Israel's new top diplomat Yair Lapid on Sunday (Jun 27), in the United States' first face-to-face meeting with the freshly installed government that seeks a less combative approach using its main ally Washington.Lapid, a centrist who delayed his own plans to be prime minister as he masterminded a coalition to unseat veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu, is flying to Rome to see Blinken, who arrives in Italy on Sunday on a three-nation tour of Europe.
The meeting comes as President Joe Biden's administration moves ahead with fresh talks on reviving a 2015 accord with Iran - strongly opposed by Israel - where Tehran drastically scaled back nuclear work in return for promises of sanctions relief.Biden and Blinken are also wanting to preserve a fragile ceasefire that took influence on May 21 between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, after the worst fighting since 2014.
The bloodshed triggered some of the strongest criticism of Israel in memory in the US Congress, with some members of Biden's Democratic Party accusing Netanyahu of excessive force and of triggering the crisis by backing far-right Jewish groups that are looking to improve the delicate status quo in the holy city of Jerusalem.
