The United States and Israel are committed to preventing the Iranian regime from getting an atomic bomb, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday, at a time when both countries have expressed their differences over negotiating with Tehran over their nuclear program.

“On the most important issue, we agree. We are both committed, we are determined that Iran will never get a nuclear bomb,” Blinken told reporters in Jerusalem, along with his Israeli counterpart, Yair Lapid, who expressed his country’s “disagreements” with Washington over the possibility of reviving the 2015 international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program.

The Israeli foreign minister maintained that, amid its differences with Washington, Israel continues to maintain an “open and honest dialogue” with its closest ally on the Iran nuclear issue. “Israel will do whatever we think is necessary to stop the Iranian nuclear program. Anything. From our point of view, the Iranian threat is not theoretical. The Iranians want to destroy Israel. They won’t get it. We will not allow it,” he assured.

Iran has been engaged in talks in Vienna for months to revive the deal with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia directly. The United States, meanwhile, is participating indirectly in the negotiations.

Israel inaugurated this Sunday a historic summit in which Blinken will participate, and the foreign ministers of Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Morocco, with which the Israeli authorities signed agreements to normalize relations since the end of 2020.

Blinken has already given his first speech on Israeli soil to thank the Israeli Government for its support for its initiatives on the war in Ukraine and its impact on the Middle East. “This is an area of the world where the United States has vital interests and we will continue to strengthen relations to facilitate stability in the region,” he said.

Bahrain, the UAE and Morocco signed an agreement with Israel to restore their diplomatic relations within the framework of the so-called ‘Abraham Agreements’, promoted by then US President Donald Trump. During the day on Thursday, Israel sent a high-level military delegation to Morocco for the first time for bilateral talks.

Likewise, the Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, held a meeting last week with the Emirati crown prince, Mohamed bin Zayed, and the president of Egypt, Abdelfatá al Sisi, in the Egyptian town of Sharm al-Sheikh. In recent months, Bennett and other senior Israeli officials have made trips to the countries that have signed the agreements to strengthen relations.

For his part, Blinken will participate in the meetings as part of a tour that will take him to Israel and Palestine, where he will hold meetings with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials, including Bennett and the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, as confirmed by the Thursday the State Department.

According to the statement, the US secretary of state “will underscore the strong commitment of the United States to Israeli security, coordination on Ukraine and Iran, and will work to build on the achievements of the Abraham Accords,” while “reaffirming the commitment to America with the ‘two-state solution’ and with greater freedom, security and prosperity for Palestinians and Israelis alike”.