US, Israel diverge on the Iran nuclear deal
kurdsatnews
Jul 14, 2022
US President Joe Biden (left) and Israel's Prime Minister Yair Lapid give a joint press conference in Jerusalem, on July 14, 2022.
On Thursday, the day after he arrived in Israel, US President Joe Biden intensified his talks with Israeli leaders, discussed the hot files, and signed the "Jerusalem Declaration" that consolidates cooperation between the United States and the Hebrew state.
During his meeting with the new caretaker prime minister, Yair Lapid, Biden affirmed America's commitment to Israel's security.
Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath correspondent said that Lapid spoke with Biden about forming a regional alliance to confront the threat of Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid told US President Joe Biden his opposition to returning to the nuclear deal with Iran. According to a statement by Lapid's office, after he met with Biden, he called for increasing pressure on Iran to return to the negotiating table to discuss an alternative agreement. Lapid thanked President Biden for his decision not to remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from the list of terrorist organizations.
Lapid announced last year, when he was foreign minister, that he wanted to rebuild bridges between Israel and the American Democratic Party after the years of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in power.
A senior Israeli official had previously said that the "Jerusalem Declaration on the Strategic Partnership between the United States and Israel" would be "a living testimony to the unique nature, health, extent, depth and intimacy" of this bilateral relationship.
He added that the document, which the Americans have not yet called the "Jerusalem Declaration", will express "a clear and unified position against Iran, its nuclear program and its aggression throughout the region."
The path to be followed in approaching the Iranian nuclear file remains a source of divergence between the United States, which wants to try the diplomatic course by reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), and Israel, which calls for a hard line.
In 2018, the administration of President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement on Iran's nuclear program and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran as part of a "maximum pressure campaign " on the Islamic Republic.
President Joe Biden said in an interview with the Israeli "Channel 12" on Wednesday evening that "the former president's withdrawal from the agreement was a huge mistake because they (the Iranians) are closer to nuclear weapons than they were before."
Asked if he was prepared to use force to ensure that Tehran did not obtain a nuclear weapon, Biden said, "Yes, if that is the last resort."
Not only does Israel fear that Iran will obtain a nuclear bomb, a weapon that Tehran denies it is seeking, but then it also fears that lifting sanctions will fill Tehran's coffers with money, thus enabling the Iranians to increase their support for their allies in the region, such as Hezbollah. Lebanon and the Palestinian Hamas movement.
Biden will also meet Thursday with his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog, who will award him a "medal of honor" for his support of Israel, and then go to encourage American athletes participating in the Maccabiah Games, which are Jewish sports meetings organized every four years in Israel.
Finally, as is customary for an American president, as Israel campaigns for early legislative elections scheduled for November 1, the Democratic president will conclude his trip to Israel in a meeting with the Israeli opposition represented by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose relationship with Biden has often been cold.
During his meeting with the new caretaker prime minister, Yair Lapid, Biden affirmed America's commitment to Israel's security.
Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath correspondent said that Lapid spoke with Biden about forming a regional alliance to confront the threat of Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid told US President Joe Biden his opposition to returning to the nuclear deal with Iran. According to a statement by Lapid's office, after he met with Biden, he called for increasing pressure on Iran to return to the negotiating table to discuss an alternative agreement. Lapid thanked President Biden for his decision not to remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from the list of terrorist organizations.
Lapid announced last year, when he was foreign minister, that he wanted to rebuild bridges between Israel and the American Democratic Party after the years of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in power.
A senior Israeli official had previously said that the "Jerusalem Declaration on the Strategic Partnership between the United States and Israel" would be "a living testimony to the unique nature, health, extent, depth and intimacy" of this bilateral relationship.
He added that the document, which the Americans have not yet called the "Jerusalem Declaration", will express "a clear and unified position against Iran, its nuclear program and its aggression throughout the region."
The path to be followed in approaching the Iranian nuclear file remains a source of divergence between the United States, which wants to try the diplomatic course by reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), and Israel, which calls for a hard line.
In 2018, the administration of President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement on Iran's nuclear program and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran as part of a "maximum pressure campaign " on the Islamic Republic.
President Joe Biden said in an interview with the Israeli "Channel 12" on Wednesday evening that "the former president's withdrawal from the agreement was a huge mistake because they (the Iranians) are closer to nuclear weapons than they were before."
Asked if he was prepared to use force to ensure that Tehran did not obtain a nuclear weapon, Biden said, "Yes, if that is the last resort."
Not only does Israel fear that Iran will obtain a nuclear bomb, a weapon that Tehran denies it is seeking, but then it also fears that lifting sanctions will fill Tehran's coffers with money, thus enabling the Iranians to increase their support for their allies in the region, such as Hezbollah. Lebanon and the Palestinian Hamas movement.
Biden will also meet Thursday with his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog, who will award him a "medal of honor" for his support of Israel, and then go to encourage American athletes participating in the Maccabiah Games, which are Jewish sports meetings organized every four years in Israel.
Finally, as is customary for an American president, as Israel campaigns for early legislative elections scheduled for November 1, the Democratic president will conclude his trip to Israel in a meeting with the Israeli opposition represented by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose relationship with Biden has often been cold.
