The foreign ministers of Egypt, Bahrain, the UAE, and Morocco arrived Israel on Sunday ahead of a landmark regional summit in the southern Negev Desert.
The meeting is at the behest of their Israeli counterpart, Yair Lapid, following stalemate in talks to revive a nuclear deal with Iran.
During the regional summit, Morocco’s Nasser Bourita and Egypt’s Sameh Shoukry will take part in the talks at the invitation of Israeli FM Yair Lapid.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt will hold a series of diplomatic meetings on Sunday and Monday in Israel.
The U.S. is pushing in with plans to renew a 2015 nuclear deal, which placed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
Israel and some Gulf Arab countries are however concerned about restoring the original deal. Israel fears it does not include enough safeguards to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Last week, leaders of Egypt, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates held a three-way summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, in which the Iran nuclear deal was reportedly deliberated on.
