Netanyahu, Merkel to discuss Iran

After a secret meeting with US President Barack Obama’s advisor Dennis Ross, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Berlin on a visit focused on Iran.

An Israeli delegation comprising Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have headed to Germany to attend the second German-Israeli cabinet meeting in the German capital Berlin.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle are to host the meetings originally scheduled for November.

Netanyahu last week secretly met with Dennis Ross, a senior advisor to the Obama administration on Iran, who had accompanied US National Security Advisor James Jones to Israel.

“On the agenda is obviously, among other issues, international pressure on Iran,” the prime minster’s Spokesman Mark Regev said on Monday.

A spokesman for the Merkel administration had earlier confirmed that Tehran and the failed Mideast peace process would be high on the agenda.

An Israeli official talking to reporters in a briefing ahead of the Berlin talks said Israel feels its time “to act to upgrade sanctions” against the Islamic Republic.

Both the United States and its close ally Israel have refused to rule out the possibility of a military attack against the country of more than 70 million people, should Tehran fail to heed their demands over its nuclear energy program.

Tel Aviv claims Tehran’s nuclear program poses a threat to its security. This is while Iran’s nuclear activities have been inspected more than that of any other country by the UN nuclear watchdog and there has been no evidence to justify Israeli claims.

Iran has not initiated a war with any country for more than a century.