Bolton: No timetable on Mideast peace plan release

JERUSALEM — President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Wednesday there was no timetable for releasing the administration’s much-anticipated Middle East peace plan.

John Bolton said a “lot of progress” has been made, but he declined to say what the plan entailed or when it might be publicized. The Trump administration recently began staffing its Mideast policy team ahead of the plan’s expected release.

“Work continues,” Bolton said at a press conference in Jerusalem. “There are a lot of consultations, and there is no decision on a timetable for when the full details of the plan will be announced.”

Bolton said the Palestinians have “been used as agents by radical leaders over the years for their own political purposes” and that when the plan was rolled out they would discover that the Trump administration wants to give them a chance for a decent life.

Most of Bolton’s three-day visit to Israel, however, was focused on Iran.

Bolton has been a strident critic of the nuclear deal signed between world powers and Iran, which the United States backed out of this year. He has pushed for greater pressure on Tehran to halt its support for regional militant groups and its development of ballistic missiles.

Israel was also deeply opposed to

the nuclear accord, which lifted international sanctions on Iran in return for restrictions on its nuclear program.

Bolton lauded recent anti-government protests in Iran but insisted “regime change in Iran is not American policy.”

He reiterated that he hoped to work with Russia on getting Iran’s forces out of Syria, and he issued a stern warning to President Bashar Assad’s government ahead of an expected assault on the rebel-held Idlib province.