Netanyahu Joins Pompeo in Lisbon to Decry Iranian Aggression

(Bloomberg) -- Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo promised Wednesday to bolster already robust defense ties to resist what they portrayed as rising Iranian aggression.

Netanyahu spoke at the start of a hastily arranged meeting with Pompeo in Lisbon that came together only after the top U.S. diplomat had departed Washington for a trip to the U.K., Portugal and Morocco this week.

“Iran’s aggression is growing, but its empire is tottering,” Netanyahu said in a reference to protests and a bloody government crackdown that have wracked the country in recent weeks. “And I say, let’s make it totter even further.”

Pompeo also cited anti-Iran protests in Iraq and Lebanon by people who he said “recognize the threat being posed by the kleptocrats that are fronting the Islamic Republic.”

The two leaders declined to answer questions about reported air strikes in Syria or the possibility that Israel will annex the Jordan Valley. Nor did they say whether they would discuss moving forward with a U.S.-Israeli mutual defense treaty, though Netanyahu said he wanted to discuss “the ability to strengthen even further our mutual defense interests.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Nick Wadhams in Lisbon at nwadhams@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert

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