US President Joe Biden, in his speech before a meeting with the outgoing President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday, promised never to let Iran develop nuclear weapons.
“What I can say to you: Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch,’’ Biden said ahead of the White House meeting
The US president also informed Rivlin, who is set to step down on July 9, that his country was “committed to oppose Iran’s malign actions and support for terrorist proxies.”
Biden’s remarks come just a day after he ordered strikes on Iranian-backed militia locations along the Iraq-Syria border.
Biden made his remarks a day after ordering strikes on Iranian-backed militia targets along the Iraq-Syria border.
According to Biden, the groups were responsible for attacks on US personnel in Iraq.
Negotiations to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal were underway.
After the United States unilaterally withdrew from the international nuclear agreement in 2018, Tehran abandoned the constraints the agreement imposed on its nuclear program.
Following that, the Islamic Republic gradually expanded its nuclear activities in violation of international agreements and limited international nuclear inspections.
Diplomats from Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China have been trying to mediate between the U.S. and Iran at talks under way in Vienna since April, aiming to save the nuclear pact.
Former US President Donald Trump, who chose to withdraw from the agreement, and Israel’s former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who repeatedly criticized it, had both been replaced, and the US and Israel were adjusting their relations.
Israel’s new Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said earlier this week the two countries would fix mistakes made over the past few years, but stressed he had “serious” concerns about the negotiations for the U.S. to return to the nuclear agreement.
The White House on Monday said that Biden extended an invitation for new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to meet with him soon at the White House.
Biden had reaffirmed that this administration was looking forward to close collaboration with the new Israeli Government on the many important issues on the bilateral agenda.
