Israeli, US officials put Iran deal behind them to team up on energy

WASHINGTON — As the US and Israel move to re-warm ties after a chilly hiatus during the fight over the Iran nuclear deal, Israel’s natural gas resources are poised to demonstrate how close-knit US-Israel coordination can get.

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz will meet Monday. And later this week, Moniz will appear alongside Steinitz as he attempts to sell US companies on the idea of further investing in Israel’s energy resources.

Close, collaborative relations between the two might have seemed a distant vision earlier this year, as Steinitz and Moniz served as some of their respective administrations’ chief spokesmen regarding their clashing positions on the Iranian nuclear deal.

Moniz was at the center of the Obama administration’s attempt to sell the virtues of the agreement to Congress and to the American people, while Steinitz — considered one of the ministers closest to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — was a sharp critic of the agreement, and occasionally of Moniz.

After Moniz told Israeli journalists that he would support the deal even if he were Israeli, Steinitz fired back via a written statement that “if I were American, I would oppose the agreement,” and went on to detail faults in the deal.

This last acrimonious back-and-forth was in early August, mere days — by Steinitz’s admission — before the two decided to hold their current meeting face-to-face.

“We decided to upgrade our talks to the ministerial level,” Steinitz said Sunday. “The dialogue is a part of an American-Israeli process after relations in the last months focused on the nuclear agreement with Iran.

Steinitz acknowledged before their meeting that Moniz “had a central role in the past year regarding the Iranian deal,” but added that “the facts speak for themselves — that there is an American and Israeli intent here. In this case, it is in the field of energy and cybersecurity, but it attests to a deeper intent not just to return to normal relations and cooperation, but to deepen and upgrade those relationships even further.”

The disagreements over the Iran deal, Steinitz said, “haven’t created any personal tensions” with his American counterpart. “Moniz is a very, very, super-intelligent and educated person. He did his job and I did mine — we had one good meeting together, and afterwards additional conversations. His friendliness toward Israel and his willingness and desire to work together speak for themselves.”

Steinitz said that during their meetings, the US and Israel would address security cooperation “in light of the current situation in the Middle East, including in the energy sector,” although he avoided saying that the discussions were part of any “compensation package” for the regional conditions created by the Iran nuclear agreement, which was formally adopted on Monday.

In addition, the two countries will address previously undiscussed topics relating to the energy sector. The energy dialogue will also address water issues and cybersecurity of energy facilities.

On water, Steinitz says that Israel has a lot to offer the US “because Israel has gained a lot of experience that can help drought-plagued US states like California.”

Discussing the cybersecurity threats posed to energy resources, Steinitz said that “both sides have doubtless much to learn from each other.” Steinitz cited “the knowledge and experience we have accumulated in defending our energy facilities — our electrical grids, our fuel supply and our natural gas resources — against the dangers of cyber-attacks is a topic that will take a significant part of the dialogue.

Steinitz’s visit to Washington is part of what he described as a sort of “roadshow,” trying to convince American energy companies to invest in Israeli energy — particularly in its natural gas resources. In addition to his meetings in Washington, Steinitz will travel to energy capitol Houston, Texas, later this week to meet with potential investors on their home turf.

In Houston, Steinitz will push US gas and energy companies “not just to invest in the gas fields that have already been discovered, but no less importantly — and maybe more importantly — in renewing the search for gas fields that are still waiting to be discovered, with an emphasis on the economic waters of Israel,” he said.

Moniz’s close assistance during this “roadshow,” Steinitz added, is a further sign of warming relations.

The ministerial-level meeting comes in the midst of a flurry of US-Israel meetings on a wide variety of subjects.

On Saturday, the new US Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford landed in Israel to meet with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot.

Talks were renewed last week on a 10-year joint defense memorandum between Israel and the United States. Although the $3-billion-per-year agreement was set to expire in 2018, talks were suspended for months during the debate over the Iran nuclear deal.

Dunford’s visit also coincides with a multinational air force exercise code-named “Blue Flag” at the Ovda airbase near Eilat. The exercise includes participants from the US Air Force, the Israeli Air Force and other allied countries.