The American national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, and his Israeli counterpart, Eyal Hulata, met at the White House to coordinate efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and toward deterring Iran’s aggressive regional activities. News of Tuesday’s meeting, which also included senior representatives from the countries’ foreign policy, defense, and intelligence agencies, came via a joint statement on the meeting of the U.S.-Israel Strategic Consultative Group released by the White House yesterday. 

The officials also discussed economic and diplomatic steps to achieve these goals and reviewed ongoing cooperation between the American and Israeli militaries, the statement added. What those steps were was not specified, but the Times of Israel reported that the SCG has met several times since the start of the Biden administration to coordinate efforts aimed at curbing the various threats posed by Iran. 

The newspaper also reported that Washington denied taking part in an Israeli Air Force drill Tuesday night to simulate striking Iranian nuclear facilities; in that drill dozens of IAF fighter jets conducted air maneuvers over the Mediterranean Sea.

There was also no detail given on the ongoing Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf. Last week Iranian forces seized two Greek tankers there even though the vessels were said to be in international waters at the time of the hijacking. American and Greek diplomats have called on Tehran to release the vessels, cargoes and crews included, but as of Thursday morning that apparently had not happened. Greek media reported that Iran urged Greece to cooperate to resolve the crisis over the seizure of ships without involving the United States.

That somewhat unusual message from Tehran fell short of an outright demand, but does mark an escalation of sorts. Subsequent to the ships’ capture, Greece’s shipping ministry warned oil tankers to avoid waters near Iran. In a rebuke to  the American secretary of state’s call for Iran to free the captured Greek-flagged vessels, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said Secretary Blinken “has to realize that the era when the U.S. single handedly imposed its rules on the world has come to an end.”