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When meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the White House, US President Joe Biden stated that the United States is still committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and touted “other options” if diplomacy with Tehran fails.
Although he opposed Washington’s efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal, Bennett said he was “happy” with Biden’s statement, which showed that he had bridged the gap between Israel’s and the United States’ attitudes towards Tehran.
Biden spoke to reporters before the White House talks on Friday, saying that he was “unswerving” about Israel’s security.
Biden said: “We will also discuss the threat from Iran and our commitment to ensure that Iran will never develop nuclear weapons.”
“We put diplomacy first and see where this takes us. But if diplomacy fails, we are ready to switch to other options.”
Bennett, like his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, has always been an outspoken opponent of multilateralism. Nuclear agreement With Tehran.
However, he welcomed Biden’s remarks and emphasized that the President of the United States mentioned alternative policies beyond foreign policy.
“I am glad to hear you make it clear that Iran will never be able to acquire nuclear weapons, and emphasized that we will try diplomatic channels, but there are other options,” the Israeli prime minister said.
Iran Agreement
The two leaders are scheduled to meet on Thursday, but their bilateral talks put off Biden turned his attention to Afghanistan after the bombing outside Kabul Airport, which killed more than 110 people, including 13 American soldiers.
The White House stated that Biden spoke with Bennett by telephone on Thursday, “thanks to him for his willingness to postpone their meeting in view of the terrorist attack in Kabul.”
Iran appears to be the top topic of bilateral discussions on Friday.
The nuclear agreement signed in 2015 allowed Iran to reduce its Nuclear program In exchange for lifting the sanctions on the economy.
Former President Donald Trump vetoed the agreement in 2018 and began to impose the most pressure sanctions on Iran.
In retaliation, Tehran relaxed its commitments to the agreement, including increasing uranium enrichment levels and shortening the time required to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran’s leaders emphasized that they are seeking nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, not nuclear weapons. Critics of Israel often point out that the country has its own nuclear arsenal and, unlike Iran, it is not a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
On Friday, Bennett called Iran the largest exporter of “terror, instability and human rights violations.”
“We have developed a comprehensive strategy and we will discuss two goals,” he said.
“The first goal is to stop Iran’s regional aggression and start pushing it back into the restricted zone. The second is to make Iran never able to break through nuclear weapons.”
As a candidate, Biden promised to restore the agreement. But six rounds of indirect negotiations with the Iranian government in Vienna failed to find a way to return to the agreement.
Since June, negotiations have suspended the election of Ebram Recy, whose cabinet is Officially recognized Proposed by Parliament on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Washington stated that it was still seeking to restore the agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (JCPOA).
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said: “We have made it very clear that it is still in our national interest to seek mutual compliance with the JCPOA.”
No mention of Palestinians
Bennett, who has long opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state, never mentioned Palestine or the Palestinians. He said earlier this week that he would not resume peace talks with the Palestinians.
He himself is a former settler, and he also ruled out the possibility of freezing settlement activities.
“This government will neither annex nor form a Palestinian state,” Bennett told the New York Times before arriving in Washington, DC.
As far as Biden is concerned, he said that the relationship with the Palestinians will be on the agenda of the meeting.
“We will also discuss ways to promote peace and security and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians,” the President of the United States said.
Khalil Jashan, executive director of the Arab Center in Washington, DC, said that there was no mention of Palestinians indicating that the Palestinian issue was not on Bennett’s political or moral radar.
“Before he left his country, he had made it clear that he opposed the two-state solution; he opposed the Palestinian state; and he opposed the freezing of settlements-these three issues are the core part of Biden’s attitude towards the Palestinians,” Jiashan told Al Jazeera.
Jashan said that although some advocates of the Palestinian cause may want Biden to put pressure on Bennett, the government has other priorities, mainly Afghanistan.
“Some people hope that there will be some serious concessions during this visit. However, Afghanistan once again came to the rescue and the agenda changed. It was diluted,” he said.
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