The main thrust of the discussions between President Shimon Peres and Mitt
Romney, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, was
Iran.
Romney called on Peres at his official residence on Sunday morning
after concluding a meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Peres
was keen to raise the issue of the threat that a nuclear Iran poses to world
stability.
The two men were on the same page with regard to
Tehran.
Romney completely concurred that the threat Iran would pose to
Israel, the region and the world is “incomprehensible and
unacceptable.”
Like Israel, he told Peres, the US is greatly concerned
about the development of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, and will do everything
possible to prevent it from becoming a nuclear-armed nation.
Peres
reiterated what he has said previously to various world leaders including US
President Barack Obama.
“We support the international coalition led by
the United State of America in its policy of economic sanctions, while leaving
all options on the table to deal with the threat of a nuclear Iran,” he
said.
Peres and Romney also discussed the escalation of the crisis in
Syria, the need for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the
Palestinians, Israel’s hopes in its relations with Egypt and various
developments throughout the Middle East.
Romney told Peres that Israel
and the US share a deep and abiding friendship and a commitment to many years of
alliance. “We share a passion for freedom and democracy. We value human rights
and dignity; we have an appreciation for the power of free enterprise to lift
people from poverty; and we love peace and hope to share peace with our friends
and other nations throughout the world, he said.”
Romney emphasized
America’s bipartisan support for and commitment to Israel’s security.
On
the Palestinian issue, Romney was in favor of a two-state solution, but was
adamant that Hamas cannot be part of a peaceful resolution.
Romney was
very interested to hear Peres’s estimation of how Israel’s relations with Egypt
would pan out, and expressed the hope that there would be greater economic
cooperation between the two.
He noted that Israel’s reputation as a
“start-up nation,” together with its advanced technology, could be beneficial as
a basis for upgrading economic relations with Egypt.
In addition to
Israel’s outrage at the atrocities that Syrian President Bashar Assad is
perpetrating against his own people, Peres told Romney the country is carefully
monitoring Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons.
Romney said the US is
equally concerned about the Syrian violence and is anxious to find a path to
peace that would lead to greater stability in the region.