US President Joseph Biden said at a meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in Washington that he will not tolerate a nuclear Iran at a time when the US administration is trying to return to the nuclear agreement with Tehran.
Biden said he ordered airstrikes yesterday targeting facilities the US military said were being used by Iran-backed militias near the Iraq-Syria border.
Such rhetoric indicates that his attitude towards Iranian activity will remain firm, according to the Associated Press.
"I can tell you that Iran will never acquire nuclear weapons while I am in office," Biden told Rivlin last night.
Rivlin, for whom it was a farewell visit to the US since his presidential term will soon expire, expressed satisfaction with Biden's statement.
Former US President Donald Trump pulled out of the major powers' nuclear deal with Iran, backed by then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in 2018, three years after it was struck.
The Biden administration, however, is seeking to re-enter that agreement.
Israel's new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, like Netanyahu, opposes the deal, which Israel says continues to allow Tehran to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles while supporting its allies, extremist organizations abroad.
Israel's new foreign minister, Yair Lapid, has promised to discuss the disagreements behind closed doors, unlike Netanyahu, who has been willing to publicly express disagreement with the US administration.
Biden expressed the hope that he will meet with Bennett soon at the White House.
After the meeting with the US president, Rivlin told reporters, in Hebrew, that Biden thinks it is necessary to call the Israeli prime minister as soon as possible to agree on how to move forward at a time when the world and the Middle East are facing problems.
At the beginning of the meeting, Rivlin said that Israel has no greater friend than the US, in an effort to downplay the seriousness of any misunderstanding regarding Iran, among other things.
"According to true friendship, we discuss things from time to time and even agree to disagree on everything. But we are counting on you and your statement has made an impact now that Israelis really understand that we have a great friend in the White House," he said. is Rivlin.
He later reiterated to reporters that "Biden is really a great friend of Israel" and that he is responding to the country's requests to keep an eye on everything related to the agreement being made with Iran.
Rivlin's seven-year term expires on July 7, when he will be replaced by Isak Herzog, a former lawmaker who until recently headed the Jewish Agency, the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world.
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