The prime ministers of Britain and Israel have agreed during talks in London on the need “to prevent Iran getting a nuclear weapon.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also urged world powers not to open a dialogue with Iran, after US President Donald Trump said he may meet his Iranian counterpart to resolve a crisis over Tehran's nuclear project and sanctions against it.
"This is not the time to hold talks with Iran. This is the time to increase the pressure on Iran," Netanyahu told reporters en route to London, where he was hosted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Netanyahu's comments marked rare public discord between the right-wing Israeli leader and Trump on the Iranian nuclear issue, Reuters reported. Netanyahu had previously counseled France against its own outreach to Iran.
On Wednesday, Trump left the door open to a possible meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York.
A Downing Street spokesperson said after the talks between Netanyahu and the British PM on Thursday that the two leaders “agreed on the need to prevent Iran getting a nuclear weapon and stop wider destabilizing Iranian behavior," while Johnson "stressed the need for dialogue and a diplomatic solution."
Netanyahu was later scheduled to confer with US Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Ynet TV that Netanyahu and Esper would discuss "everything that happens in the space between Syria, Lebanon, Iraq.”
