Blinken to hold meeting with his new Israeli counterpart in Rome

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Israel’s new Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in Italy over the weekend, a senior US State Department official and Israel’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
 

They said the meeting would take place on Sunday in Rome but neither side offered any details about the agenda, which is likely to focus on Israel's concerns about a possible U.S. return to the Iran nuclear deal and Israel's security more broadly.

It will be their first meeting since Lapid assumed his position after longtime Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was ousted. The discussion comes as Israel’s new government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett seeks to mend relations with U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.