‘DIPLOMACY WON’T STOP IRAN’
Israel PM's nuke warning as Biden pushes for deal
President Biden returned to his old refrain Thursday by claiming diplomacy would prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons — while Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said a threat of force was needed.
The two leaders held a joint press conference in Jerusalem during which they offered diverging strategies on reviving the dormant nuclear deal that the United States proposed to Tehran.
“They have an opportunity to accept this agreement that’s been laid down. If they don’t, we made it absolutely clear: We will not — let me say it again — we will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon,” Biden said of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“We’ve laid out for the people, for the leadership of Iran what we’re willing to accept in order to get back in the JCPOA. We’re waiting for their response. When that will come, I’m not certain. But we are not going to wait forever,” Biden later added.
But Lapid publicly pressured Biden during the press conference, saying a show of force was the “only way” to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“Words will not stop them, Mr. President. Diplomacy will not stop them,” he said. “The only thing that will stop Iran is knowing that if they continue to develop their nuclear program, the free world will use force. The only way to stop them is to put a credible military threat on the table.”
But Biden continued to hold out for diplomacy, saying it was “the best way to achieve this outcome.”
Joint declaration
The press conference and a bilateral meeting between the leaders earlier in the day highlighted the joint signing of the US-Israel Strategic Partnership Joint Declaration, in which both nations pledged to “never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon” and the US vowed to be “prepared to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome.”
Still, Biden has been wary of committing to the use of military force to deter Iran, telling Israel’s Channel 12 in an interview that aired Wednesday night that the move should be a “last resort.”
Taking reporters’ questions at the press conference, Biden also wouldn’t commit to pressing Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mo
hammed bin Salman on the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi when he meets with the monarch this week.
“My views on Khashoggi have been absolutely, positively clear. And I have never been quiet about talking about human rights,” Biden said before moving on to highlight the “much broader” purpose of the visit to “promote US interests” in the Middle East. Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident, was murdered at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 in what US intelligence has determined was a hit ordered by the prince. Ultimately, Biden gave a vague and noncommittal answer on the issue. “I always bring up human rights,” he said. “But my position on Khashoggi has been so clear, if anyone doesn’t understand it — in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else — they haven’t been around for a while.”
Biden had vowed during his presidential campaign to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” over its role in Khashoggi’s murder.
Biden has been highly criticized for agreeing to meet with bin Salman and reportedly rejected the idea himself at first. But he agreed in an effort to appeal to the kingdom for an increase in oil production to bring down US fuel prices.
Also on Thursday, the president praised the Abraham Accords, the first peace deals between the Jewish state and Arab nations in decades that was spearheaded by the Trump administration.
“Tomorrow I’ll be the first American president to fly from Israel directly to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,” Biden said. “That represents important progress.”