Iran will top the agenda in his meeting with US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday minutes before taking off from an Israeli Air Force base for Washington, DC.

“In these complex times one must act with both great determination and great wisdom,” he said in a Hebrew-language video statement alongside his wife Sara. “We will discuss all the issues on the agenda, first and foremost Iran. Of course, our goal is to safeguard our security while also expanding the circle of peace around us.”

“I am embarking on this mission with one clear objective,” he said, “to ensure the security, strength, and future of our beloved State of Israel.”

Netanyahu is set to meet Trump on Tuesday at 11 a.m, local time, after more than five months since their last meeting. His schedule that day will include attending a memorial service for the late pro-Israel Republican senator Lindsey Graham.

Netanyahu noted that he is also traveling to pay last respects to Graham, “one of Israel’s greatest friends of all time.”

His visit comes during a lull in the Middle East war after 13 days of intensifying US airstrikes on Iran and retaliatory attacks across the region by the Islamic Republic.

The Pentagon suspended the bombing campaign late on Friday, with no US attacks reported on either Saturday or Sunday. Iran, which had been following each night of US attacks with its own strikes on neighboring countries that host US bases, has also held its fire, saying it will continue to do so for as long as the US does.

It will be the first sit-down between the leaders since before the outbreak of the Iran war on February 28.

The pair last met on February 11 in the White House, where Netanyahu made a high-stakes Situation Room pitch for the US to join Israel in another war, which included a series of predictions that didn’t pan out.

Trump has been considering another major attack after the memorandum of understanding he signed last month to end the war fell apart due to disputes over control of the Strait of........

© The Times of Israel