FILE PHOTO: Jake Sullivan, US President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to be his national security adviser, speaks as President-elect Biden announces his national security nominees and appointees at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, US, November 24, 2020. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts.

i24 News – Israel’s national security adviser held a second phone call with his American counterpart, with regional security issues being the main focus of the conversation, the White House confirmed on Friday.

The call between Meir Ben-Shabbat and Jake Sullivan took place on a secure line on Thursday and senior security officials from both countries also participated, the Walla news site reported.

The call came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s appointment of Meir Ben-Shabbat as the main interlocutor for Iran negotiations with the United States and other major powers, the site said.

Ben-Shabbat is expected to convene a team in the coming days to determine Israel’s strategy in talks with the Biden administration, while Washington has said it is ready to renew the Iranian nuclear agreement signed in Vienna in 2015, a commitment that the Jewish state fears.

For now, France, Germany, and Great Britain, all signatories to the agreement, warned Iran on Friday that it “jeopardized” the integrity of it after it was discovered Tehran was producing uranium metal, a key element in the construction of nuclear weapons.

“We note with grave concern the recent confirmation by the IAEA that Iran is producing uranium metal in violation of” the accord, the three western European countries said in a statement.

“We reiterate that Iran has no credible civilian justification for these activities, which are a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon,” it added.

The three nations “strongly urge Iran to halt these activities without delay and not to take any new non-compliant steps on its nuclear program.”