President Joe Biden on Wednesday reaffirmed the U.S. position that Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon during a high-profile meeting with Yair Lapid, the former soap opera star and ad pitchman now playing the role as Israeli Prime Minister.
The meeting resulted in the U.S. signing a joint declaration with Israel that both countries would use all their power to prevent Iran from joining the nuclear-armed club, which includes the U.S., Russia, India, Israel, Pakistan, the U.K., China, and France. There are about 19,000 nuclear weapons in the world.
The declaration reads in part that the U.S. will never “allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon and that it is prepared to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome.”
Biden also confirmed that the U.S. would use force to stop Iran’s nuclear ambition, but he insisted that the move would be after all diplomatic efforts have been exhausted.
Biden has tried to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action after his predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew from the agreement in 2018. Trump called the nuke deal a complete failure. Barack Obama tried to present the deal, which included seven countries, as a diplomatic coup.
Trump’s decision to pull out meant that the U.S. would re-impose sanctions against Tehran. The Biden administration’s 15-month effort to revive the deal has been unsuccessful.
The Associated Press confirmed that a 9th round of discussions took place last month and “no progress was made.”
Ali Vaez, the Iran Project director at the International Crisis Group and former senior political affairs officer at the UN, told the news wire that he believes the process is “increasingly hopeless.”
“The meeting in Doha was a major setback, because it was an absolute dead end,” he said.
Lapid and Biden Disagree on Approach
Israel’s most important ally is the U.S., and the differences between Jerusalem and Washington are seldom aired publicly.
Lapid told reporters on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel did not “necessarily agree” on presenting Iran with a credible military threat.
“We came and asked to introduce a credible military threat during President Biden’s visit,” Lapid said during the closed-door portion of Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Channel 13 news reported.
“We want the basis [for world power’s negotiations with Iran] to be a credible military threat,” he said. “We didn’t necessarily agree on this with the Americans.”
Lapid held a joint press conference with the president last week and told reporters that words alone will not stop Iran.
“Diplomacy will not stop them. 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,” he said.
AntiWar.com reported that part of the declaration included a portion that reaffirmed U.S.’s continued yearly injection of $3.8 billion in military aid. The report also noted that Iran has signed on to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Israel has not because its nuclear program is secret.
The Times of Israel noted that Lapid told his cabinet that he told Biden that his administration “opposes the nuclear deal and maintains complete freedom to act, diplomatically and operationally, in the face of the Iranian nuclear program.”
TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has long reported on the clandestine war between Israel and Iran that seems to be picking up pace after a massive Israeli drill over the Mediterranean earlier this year. (See “SPOTLIGHT ON ISRAEL,” “ISRAEL HOLDS MILITARY EXERCISE TO STRIKE IRAN,” “IRAN NUKE DEAL: U.S. VS. ISRAEL” and “IRAN’S MISSILES STRIKE ‘RETALIATORY,’ HITS ISRAEL TARGET.”)
Biden Meets Bibi
No trip to Israel is complete for a U.S. president without a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister who stepped aside for the new coalition government last year. He is the leading opposition figure in the country and could take back his old seat
The Jerusalem Post, citing a poll conducted by Panels Politics, found that Netanyahu’s Likud Party will receive 61 seats in the country’s next election, which would hand him victory.
Lapid is seen as a centrist, and Netanyahu is an Iran hawk. The next vote could be held as soon as 25 October.
Netanyahu promised to hurt Neftali Bennett’s premiership and, in his last speech in front of the Knesset, which was supposed to last 15 minutes, went on for over a half-hour. He said Iran celebrated his defeat because they “understand that starting today there will be a weak and unstable government that will align with the dictates of the international community.”
Netanyahu, holding true to form, told reporters after the meeting with Biden that “with no credible military option, Iran won’t be stopped. If Iran isn’t deterred, that military option has to be used.”
He continued, “We’ve been friends for 40 years, but to ensure the next 40 years, we must deal with the Iranian threat.”
TRENDPOST: The threat of all-out war between Iran and Israel is growing by the day and Iran’s influence in the region is growing. Prior to the Biden-Lapid meeting, Jake Sullivan essentially accused Iran of doing its best impression of the U.S.
He told reporters that Iran plans to send hundreds of drones to Russia to employ in the Ukraine conflict…and even offered to train Russians on how to fly them.
Washington believes that the U.S. is the only country that can support an ally. We have said the longer the Ukraine War drags on, the closer the world inches to WWIII.
Biden’s 15-minute meeting with Netanyahu indicates that he believes there are second acts in Israeli politics. Netanyahu is on trial for allegations of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. But selling fear works and reminding Israelis that they face a nuclear threat from a neighbor is a good pitch.