At Jerusalem summit, Bolton says Iran has ‘open door’ for negotiations

(June 25, 2019 / JNS) As a historic tripartite summit between top Israeli, American and Russian security officials got underway in Jerusalem on Tuesday, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton assured Iran that U.S. President Donald Trump is ready to enter negotiations.

Despite a spike in tensions between the United States and Iran in recent days, Bolton said that “all that Iran needs to do is walk through that open door” to find a willing negotiation partner.

He made the statements at a high-profile security summit attended by attended by his Israeli and Russian counterparts Meir Ben-Shabbat and Nikolai Patrushev, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Bolton lamented that Iran’s silence in the wake of rising tensions has been “deafening.”

Prior to the event, Netanyahu greeted and thanked Patrushev, and revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin would attend an event in Israel later this year “to lay the cornerstone of the monument commemorating the siege of Leningrad, and also to begin the events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.”

Netanyahu added that “Israel will not allow Iran, which calls for our destruction, to entrench itself on our border—we will do all we can to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons.”

“Self defense is a very important lesson of 20th century history,” he said. “Certainly for the Jewish people and its state.”

“We pay special attention to ensuring Israel’s security,” Patrushev said Monday, adding that it is “a special interest of ours because here in Israel live a little less than about two million of our countrymen. Israel supports us in several channels, including at the U.N. The prime minister [Netanyahu] has already said that we share the same views on the issue of the struggle against falsifying the history of World War II.”

While Russia has opposed U.S. action against Iran, including America’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, it has given tacit consent to numerous Israeli military actions against Iranian targets near the border between Syria and Israel.