A firmer American stance against North Korea could bolster security in the Middle East, a former top Israeli diplomatic official said on Wednesday.

According to ex-Foreign Ministry Director General Dore Gold, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s recent statement that two decades of international diplomatic efforts had failed to stop the Pyongyang regime’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs “not only made a splash in the Sea of Japan and in the Far East, they were very carefully noted in the Middle East, as well.”

“North Korea has been acting behind the scenes to accelerate the Iranian ballistic missile program and perhaps many other parts of Iran’s military industrial base,” Gold explained in a video published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs — the think tank he heads.

North Korea, Gold said, has been “one of the critical sources” of technology for Iran’s missile program.

What Tillerson did during his recent visit to South Korea, Gold noted, was “reassure American allies and warn American adversaries — something that has not been done for a very long time. And by doing so, he helped rebuild security in Northeast Asia. This is exactly the kind of step the administration should take here in the Middle East and specifically in the Persian Gulf.”

Earlier this month, David Albright — head of the Institute for Science and International Security think tank — told The Algemeiner that paying attention to any potential nuclear collaboration between North Korea and Iran should be a priority for the Trump administration.

“I think the main thing is to try to discover it,” Albright said. “We know it [cooperation] happens in the missile and conventional weapons areas. As for the nuclear area, we look at it as an open question. We haven’t seen enough evidence yet to make an actual accusation, we just don’t know. But I think there is a real risk that Iran and North Korea could cooperate on nuclear matters.”

Watch Gold’s video below: