US slams Iran, Russia defends in Jerusalem trilateral security summit

JERUSALEM - The national security consultants of Israel, the United States and Russia met on Tuesday in a first trilateral security summit in Jerusalem, to discuss regional issues, with an emphasis on Iran and Syria.

The summit was attended by US National Security Adviser John Bolton, Secretary of the Russian National Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, and Israel's National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat.

Bolton criticized Iran, saying that "the summit meets at a special time in the Middle East, when Iran's radical regime and its terrorist surrogates engage in yet more rounds of violent provocations abroad, while its economy collapses and corruption at the highest levels runs rampant at home."

"Iran is a source of belligerence and aggression in the Middle East, threatening global oil supplies around the region," he said.

"(US) President (Donald) Trump imposed additional sanctions on Iran but at the same time has held the door open to real negotiations, to completely and verifiably eliminate Iran's nuclear weapons program and its support for international terrorism," he added.

The Russian envoy sided Iran, saying that "Iran is contributing to the war on terrorism in Syria, and yet encouraging steps needed on all sides to reduce the tension."

"Any attempt to present Iran as a major threat to security in the region or to put it in line with the Islamic State or other terrorist organizations is unacceptable to us," he said.

He added that the solution to reduce tensions in Syria is not a military one, adding that the recent attacks in Syria, attributed to Israel, "were unwanted."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting that "this historic summit represents a real opportunity to help advance the stability in our region, particularly in Syria."

"Israel has taken hundreds of times to prevent Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, while it actively and openly calls and works for our destruction," he said.

Netanyahu added that "Israel will continue to prevent Iran from using neighboring territory as platforms to attack us and will respond forcefully to any such attacks."