Prime Minister Netanyahu told U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that his department had “played a crucial role in applying and enforcing sanctions on the Iranian regime”, and said the U.S. “maximum pressure” strategy against Iran “must be continued to prevent Iran from continuing its campaign of aggression and terror throughout the region and to prevent Iran from rushing to a nuclear arsenal”. Netanyahu further argued that “if we just go back to the JCPOA, what will happen and may already be happening is that many other countries in the Middle East will rush to arm themselves with nuclear weapons. That is a nightmare and that is folly. It should not happen”. Relatedly, Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen addressed U.S. President-elect Biden in an interview by saying that “if you want to maintain regional stability, if you want to advance further peace agreements, it is important that the policy vis-à-vis Iran continues”.