Condoleezza Rice meets with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, right, meets with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz at the State Department on June 6. Mofaz is in Washington this week to discuss bilateral strategic relations, and possible developments with Syria.
Top Israeli negotiator: Give Iran
until December to back down
By Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israel wants to set an end-of-year deadline for Iran to back down from its nuclear ambitions, its top strategic negotiator said.

Shaul Mofaz, Israel’s transportation minister who leads the Israeli team in the strategic dialogue with the United States, said he would propose the deadline during five hours of talks Thursday with the U.S. team, led by Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns.

“Sanctions must be strong enough to bring about change in the Iranians by the end of 2007,” Mofaz told a group of Hebrew-speaking reporters after meeting Wednesday with Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state.

The talks here this week come a few weeks before Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert … Full Story