US President Joe Biden will visit Israel and Saudi Arabia. Israel expects the US to be firmer with Iran, while the visit to Saudi Arabia marks a diplomatic U-turn.
The premier urged a "decisive" response to Tehran's nuclear ambitions, ahead of Biden's arrival in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
The visit "will focus first and foremost on the issue of Iran," said Israel's Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, addressing his second cabinet meeting since taking office on July 1.
The Israeli leader is serving as premier and foreign minister of a caretaker government until elections scheduled for November 1.
According to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report that emerged over the weekend, Iran has informed the Vienna-based watchdog about enhancements in its uranium enrichment capacity.
"Yesterday, it was revealed that Iran is enriching uranium in advanced centrifuges in complete contravention of the agreements it has signed," Lapid said Sunday.
"The international response needs to be decisive: to return to the UN Security Council and activate the sanctions mechanism at full force," he added.
Israel opposes the restoration of a 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers, that offered Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.
The US walked out of the deal in 2018 under then president Donald Trump, who proceeded to reimpose biting sanctions on Tehran.
'Pariah state' no more
The second leg of his Middle East trip is Biden's first visit as US president to Saudi Arabia on Friday, where he will seek to persuade Riyadh to pump more oil to bring down prices that are fuelling inflation to the highest levels in decades.
Prior to his election, Biden had vowed that Saudi should be a "pariah" state following the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
On 21 February 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a report concluding that Saudi strongman Mohammed Bin Salman "approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi."
As the US dependency on Saudi oil decreased after fracking had turned the US in the world's number 1 oil producer since 2014, Washington's interest in the relations was already diminishing.
However, since then, key crude producer Russia has invaded Ukraine, propelling oil prices to levels last seen during the 2008 global financial crisis.
That pushed US inflation to the highest rate in more than four decades.
Experts say that this could yet persuade Biden to set aside human rights concerns before key US midterm elections in November.
"It highlights his desperation ahead of the midterms to at least be seen to be trying to alleviate the tightness in the market and bring prices back down," OANDAanalyst Craig Erlam told AFP.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures."
(With agencies)
