Bolton lands in Israel to discuss escalating Iran tensions

The United States' national security advisor has arrived in Israel as military tensions continue to escalate between Iran and the US over the shooting down of an American drone in Iranian waters.

John Bolton will meet Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday to discuss the ongoing Iranian friction in the region.

Tensions spiked after a series of attacks on tankers, which the US has blamed on Iran. The two countries allegedly almost went to war after the downing of a US drone - which Iran insists violated its airspace, a claim Washington denies.

After the drone was downed, US President Donald Trump claimed he was going to strike Iran but backed out last minute.

Earlier this week, Trump said he was under pressure to act against the high-stakes incident near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said the US was "cocked & loaded to retaliate" on Thursday night by hitting "3 different sites," but scrapped the strikes just 10 minutes before they were carried out.

Bolton will also take part in a trilateral meeting between US, Russian and Israeli officials on Monday.

He is set to meet Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat and Russian Secretary of the Security Council Nikolay Patrushev.

“Nice to be back in Israel. Looking forward to meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu tomorrow & my counterparts from Israel & Russia, Meir Ben-Shabbat & Nikolay Patrushev, to discuss regional security,” Bolton tweeted upon his arrival.

Last month, Bolton warned any attacks in the Gulf will draw a "very strong response" from the US, taking a hard-line approach with Tehran after his boss only two days earlier said America wasn't "looking to hurt Iran at all."

"The point is to make it very clear to Iran and its surrogates that these kinds of action risk a very strong response from the United States," Bolton threatened, without elaborating.

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