Jerusalem, Paris pushing IAEA to bolster anti-Iran stance, Israel says

Israel is working jointly with France to sway the International Atomic Energy Agency to strengthen its stance against Iran at its next board meeting, the Foreign Ministry said.

"France and Israel see eye to eye on the importance of stopping the Iranian nuclear program immediately,” Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Monday after speaking with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna.

“Only determined and quick action, coordinated between the Western countries, can lead to significant sanctions on the Ayatollah regime in order for it to change its policies,” he said.

Cohen said that he had met or spoken with his European colleague from the US and the E3 — France, Germany and Great Britain —  to push for the IAEA to take “immediate steps” at its June meeting.

He spoke with Colonna just before heading to the Czech Republic which heads the IAEA board. He is slated to meet with Czech President Peter Pavl and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky Cohen to discuss Iran.

"European countries understand more than ever the Iranian threat and are mobilizing to act against it,” Cohen said.

Discussing how Iran threatens Israel and the world

He left as the IDF confirmed Monday it had shot down an Iranian drone that had entered Israel’s air space from Syria on Sunday.

“We will discuss ways to stop Iran's attempts to obtain nuclear weapons and how to repel Iran’s terror arm,” he said.

“As part of the political struggle against Iran” Israel is “promoting international sanctions against it and strengthening relations with friendly countries,” Cohen said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its military ties with Tehran, including its use of armed Iranian drones against Ukrainian civilians, has helped increase European awareness that Iran poses a threat continent.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has visited France, Germany, Italy and Great Britain in the last three months to discuss Iran. Cohen has also broached the topic in every conversation he has had with his European counterparts.

Neither Netanyahu or Cohen, however, have been able to sway their European counterparts to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terror entity.

As European tensions with Tehran have grown, some regional ones have eased, with Saudi Arabia restoring diplomatic ties with Iran, which included on Sunday a phone call between the foreign ministers of both countries.