On Thursday, President Joe Biden signed a declaration pledging never to allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and committing to partnering with other countries to confront Tehran’s aggression.
Fox News reports:
The Jerusalem U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Joint Declaration was announced following a bilateral summit between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in the Israeli capital. This reaffirms the U.S. strategic commitments to its closest ally and seeks to expand the longstanding security relationship between the countries. It also promises to broaden and build upon the Abraham Accords normalization agreements initiated by former President Donald Trump in 2020.
Biden said that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a threat to all. “Ensuring Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon is of vital security interest to Israel and the United States and for the rest of the world as well,” said Biden in a press conference following the signing. “I continue to believe that diplomacy is the best way to achieve this outcome, and we’ll continue to work with Israel to counter other threats from Iran throughout the region.”
“The only thing that will stop Iran is knowing that if they continue to develop their nuclear program the free world will use force,” he said, adding, “The only way to stop them is to put a credible military threat on the table.”
Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday afternoon as part of his first trip to the Middle East as president. On Friday, Biden will visit the West Bank city of Bethlehem to hold meetings with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas before heading to Saudi Arabia, where there is also concern about Iran’s growing hegemony in the region and its efforts to become a nuclear nation.
There is also hope that his stop in the region’s largest country will repair U.S. relations with the House of Saud, paving the way to alternative oil sources.
