US defence secretary seeks to ease Israeli concerns over Iran deal

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter visited Israel on Monday in a bid to ease concerns over the nuclear deal with Iran, saying the Jewish state remains the "bedrock of American strategy" in the region.

Israel was Carter's first stop on a regional tour following last week's historic agreement between Iran and world powers, underlining the importance of the relationship between the two countries despite frictions over the accord.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the deal with Iran, his country's arch-foe, arguing it is not enough to keep the Islamic republic from obtaining nuclear weapons that could be used to target his country.

He has also signalled that military force remains on the table to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, though experts say unilateral strikes by Israel appear highly unlikely for now.

Ahead of a meeting with Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, Carter said the two countries would "work together to maintain our safety and security in this troubled region".

"Israel is the bedrock of American strategy in the Middle East," he said.

Yaalon avoided mentioning the two countries' disagreements in his statement before the meeting, saying "we share common interests as well as common values".

"And today we will have an opportunity to discuss the developing situation in the Middle East. It is really developing, changing almost every day. So we have to adjust our strategy ... in order to meet the challenges," Yaalon said.

- 'Much deadlier weapons' -

Israel is believed to be the only country in the Middle East with atomic bombs, although it has never confirmed that.

The United States grants the country about $3 billion in military aid annually in addition to spending on other projects, such as the Iron Dome missile defence system.

There have been suggestions that Israel could receive additional compensation to help it defend itself against the threat it says the Iranian nuclear deal now poses, but Netanyahu has so far shown no sign of tempering his criticsm.

Israeli army radio on Monday cited defence ministry officials as saying they were ready to begin discussing such compensation, but Netanyahu has been hesitant because he believes it would signal acceptance of the agreement.

Beyond saying the deal will not block Iran's path to nuclear weapons, Netanyahu argues that the lifting of sanctions will allow it to further finance proxy militants in the Middle East, including Israeli enemy Hezbollah.

Carter was due to visit Israel's northern border with Lebanon later Monday for an assessment of the threat it says Hezbollah poses.

Under the July 14 agreement, Iran has agreed to dismantle or mothball much of its nuclear industry in return for an easing and eventual lifting of sanctions. World powers have called it a historic opportunity to set relations with Iran on a new path.

On his flight to Israel, Carter however said the deal does not preclude the use of military force to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, though the agreement is designed to resolve the issue diplomatically.

In response to talk of military force, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that "the world sees last week's agreement in Vienna as a victory of diplomacy over war and violence".

"Unfortunately there are still people who speak of the illegal and illegitimate use of violence to attain their objective based on illusions and insist on maintaining an ineffective option," he said, according to state news agency IRNA.

Netanyahu will now turn his attention to the US Congress, which has 60 days to review the agreement. He has given interviews to a range of US television programmes, warning that the agreement was a catastrophic mistake.

The deal "may block or delay Iran's path to one or two bombs for the next few years, assuming they don't cheat, but paves their way to many, many bombs after a decade or so," he said on CBS.

Carter is due to meet Netanyahu on Tuesday before travelling on to Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

German official urges Iran to rethink Israel stance
Tehran (AFP) July 20, 2015 - Germany believes Iran should rethink its stance on Israel as last week's nuclear deal means it must "bear new responsibilities, at home and abroad", a top German official said Monday.

The comments from Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's economy minister and Chancellor Angela Merkel's deputy, came during a trip to Tehran aimed at rebuilding badly affected trade ties.

Gabriel, the most senior Western official to visit since last week's nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers including Germany, said the deal had laid a foundation for better cooperation but differences remained.

"With the nuclear agreement and the economic recovery that will surely come after it, Iran will also bear new responsibilities, at home and abroad," he told delegates at a conference in the capital.

"You must understand that for us Germans, the security of the state of Israel is also of great importance.

"I understand how difficult the debate is, and we in Germany also believe that the Palestinians have a right to their own state. That must be our shared international goal."

Iran does not recognise Israel as a state and officials routinely refer to its leaders as "the Zionist regime".

On July 10, as negotiators from Iran and the P5+1 powers sought to conclude the nuclear deal, tens of thousands of people gathered in Tehran for annual Quds (Jerusalem) Day demonstrations in support of the Palestinians.

As is customary at such gatherings the crowd chanted "Down with Israel" and carried placards that declared "Zionist soldiers kill Muslims". They also burned Israeli and US flags.

However, Gabriel said differences over Israel should not affect efforts to improve Iran-German relations after the nuclear deal, which has given hope to a major economic revival in the Islamic republic when sanctions are lifted in coming months.

"The test of true friendship is when you can discuss difficult issues openly, in a spirit of partnership and respectfully -- that shows how close the friendship is," Gabriel said.

"Nothing needs to change in that friendship, even if we hold different views."

Iran's foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham also sought to isolate the disagreement about Israel, saying such differences were not new and had not affected other "constructive contacts".

"We have completely different positions on regional issues with Germany, and over the last 35 years we have expressed on many occasions, in negotiations, our positions very clearly," she said, according to the ISNA news agency.

"The main part of the dialogue is about the prospect of bilateral cooperation and naturally we will express our concerns about the region, including existing threats, including threats of the Zionist regime and the roots of the crises in the region."