Israel welcomes top diplomats from Arab countries

Israel is on Sunday hosting the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Egypt and Bahrain during U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to the region. Blinken tried to soothe the fears of Israel and its Gulf Arab allies ahead of the possible renewal of global powers' international nuclear deal with Iran.

Blinken made the comments shortly before joining his counterparts from Israel and the four Arab countries at a special gathering at a kibbutz in the Negev Desert, where the Iranian nuclear deal was expected to top the agenda. Israel and many of its neighbors are fiercely opposed to the deal, which they believe will embolden and enrich Iran.

Egypt is the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, while the other three nations normalized relations with Israel in 2020 in the so-called Abraham Accords brokered by the Trump administration.