JERUSALEM – President Biden on Thursday dodged questions about whether he would set a deadline for stalled negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program following a meeting with Israel’s prime minister, who urged the United States to put a “credible military threat” on the table against Iran.
Biden, who said in a recent interview that the U.S. would consider the use of military force “as a last resort,” declined to detail any timetable for public diplomatic efforts after his session with the Israeli prime minister. Yair Lapid.
“We have set out for the people, for the leadership of Iran, what we are willing to accept now to return to the JCPOA,” he said of the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan, the Obama-era nuclear deal abandoned by the Trump administration to an Israeli journalist.
“We are waiting for the answer. When that happens, when it will come, I’m not sure. But we won’t wait forever,” he said, after signing a joint statement with Lapid that pledged the United States to “never” allow the Iran acquires nuclear weapons.
The document signed by the two leaders also said that the United States “is willing to use all elements of its national power to ensure this result.”
President Joe Biden and Israel’s caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid shake hands before signing a security pledge in Jerusalem on July 14, 2022.
Atef Safadi / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
Lapid used his initial statements moments earlier to ask Biden to put on the table a “credible” military threat against Iran, arguing that diplomacy alone would not be enough to return Iran to the nuclear deal. .
“The only thing that will stop Iran is knowing that if they continue to develop their nuclear program, the free world will use force,” Lapid said.
But he also tried to minimize disagreements between the two countries over Iran’s nuclear program, the second day of Biden’s visit focused on strengthening ties with Israel and improving the country’s relations with the countries. Arabs who are also aligned with Iran.
“We have an open discussion about what is the best way to deal with it, but I don’t think there is any light between us in terms of all of these being means to an end,” Lapid said of Iran. “We cannot allow Iran to become nuclear.”
Lapid’s call to the U.S. follows President Biden who said the U.S. would use force against Iran’s nuclear program “as a last resort” during an interview on Israeli television recorded before leaving Washington.
Many Israeli leaders oppose the deal with Iran and believe that diplomacy alone will not limit Iran’s nuclear program, seen in Israel as an existential threat to the country, nor its support for intermediary groups. like Hezbollah who are also in conflict with Israel.
During the televised interview, the president declined to say whether Israeli leaders have pledged to keep the U.S. informed of any military attack plans aimed at Iran’s nuclear program.
“The only thing worse than Iran that exists now is an Iran with nuclear weapons,” Biden said during the interview. “It was a giant mistake for the last president to come out of the deal. They are closer to a nuclear weapon than before,” he said.
A diplomatic resolution is “the best option,” according to the testimony of the Biden administration’s special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this spring. He said, however, that military intervention is not off the table.
Republicans in the House and Senate, along with several Democrats, are skeptical of the deal, making approving any potential deal with Iran a challenge for the Biden administration at the Capitol.
Earlier this year, the White House said Iran’s nuclear advances would make it “impossible” to rekindle an agreement with the country if the United States does not reach it soon.
ABN News’ Shannon Crawford contributed to this report.