14 July 2022•Update: 14 July 2022
JERUSALEM
US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Thursday signed a joint declaration to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Biden is currently visiting Israel as part of a regional tour that also includes the West Bank and Saudi Arabia.
“We will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon,” Biden told a joint press conference following the signing of the “Jerusalem Declaration” with Lapid.
The declaration includes wording about using “all elements of national power” to prevent Tehran from attaining a nuclear weapon.
“The United States stresses that integral to this pledge is the commitment never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that it is prepared to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome,” it said.
The Israeli premier, for his part, said his talks with Biden focused on the Iranian threat.
“There will be no nuclear Iran. This is not only a threat to Israel but to the [whole] world. And we discussed some other issues we’re going to keep to ourselves,” he added.
Israel opposes negotiations between Iran and world powers to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement, from which Washington withdrew in 2018.
Under the agreement, Tehran has committed to limit its nuclear activity to civilian purposes and in return, world powers agreed to drop their economic sanctions against Iran.
