JERUSALEM, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed on Tuesday night to Poland to attend the Warsaw Conference on the Middle East.

"The focus of the conference is Iran," Netanyahu told reporters before leaving.

"We employ many means against Iran's aggression, against their attempts to achieve nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles," Netanyahu said.

Iran denies it attempts to develop nuclear weapons.

Netanyahu said that Israel's relations with many Middle East countries are "very good," but most of these ties are being held behind the scenes. According to Netanyahu, Israel has been forging new ties with Arab countries but "not all of them are overt."

Israel currently has formal diplomatic ties with a few Arab countries, including Jordan and Egypt.

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet U.S. officials during the two-day conference, co-hosted by Poland and the United States.

Some 80 countries, including about 11 Middle East countries, have confirmed their participation in the conference which will be held on Feb. 13-14.

The U.S. administration is organizing the conference and has invited Arab states and Israel to the conference. Iran was not invited.

Lebanon and Iran have condemned the meeting as an "anti-Iran circus."

The conference is thought to be an attempt by the U.S. to build an anti-Iran coalition of hardliners. Last year, Donald Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal negotiated with Iran, and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.