(JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to Portugal for a working dinner with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Before boarding the plane at Ben Gurion Airport, Netanyahu praised the American administration for its tough stance on Iran.

“We’re seeing the Iranian empire totter,” Netanyahu said, referring to major recent protests in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon against the Iranian regime and its proxies. He lauded the United States for applying “tremendous pressures and sanctions on Iran,” and expressed his hope that all parties would “increase this pressure against Iranian aggression.”

Turning to Europe, Netanyahu lambasted Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden for joining France, Germany and the United Kingdom in the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) trade mechanism, a means by which nations can work around American sanctions against Iran by avoiding the use of the dollar.

Netanyahu said his meeting with Pompeo would focus on Iran—including Iranian military entrenchment in Syria and the Islamic Republic’s increased uranium enrichment—but that they would also discuss a potential defense pact between Israel and the United States, as well as Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley.