Biden says US won’t wait ‘forever’ for Iran on nuclear deal

President Joe Biden said Thursday that the United States is “not going to wait forever” for Iran to rejoin a dormant nuclear deal, a day after saying he would be willing to use force against Tehran as a last resort, if necessary. .

At a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, following private talks on the rapid progress of Iran’s nuclear program, Biden said the United States had charted a path for Iranian leaders to return to the nuclear deal and was still waiting for a response.

“When that will come, I’m not sure,” Biden said. “But we’re not going to wait forever.”

Even as he suggested his patience with Iran was running out, Biden remained hopeful that Iran could be persuaded to rejoin the deal. “I continue to believe that diplomacy is the best way to achieve this result,” he said.

Biden’s desire for a diplomatic solution contrasted with Lapid, who said Iran must face a real threat of force to give up its nuclear ambition.

“The Iranian regime must know that if it continues to deceive the world, it will pay a heavy price,” Lapid told the news conference. “The only way to stop them is to put a credible military threat on the table.”

Lapid suggested that he and Biden were on the same page, despite his harsher rhetoric toward Iran.

“I don’t think there is a light between us,” he said. “We cannot allow Iran to go nuclear.”

Reviving the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Barack Obama administration and abandoned by Donald Trump in 2018 was a key priority for Biden when he took office. But administration officials have grown increasingly pessimistic about Tehran’s chances of coming back into compliance.

Israeli officials have sought to use Biden’s first visit to the Middle East as president to underscore that Iran’s nuclear program has progressed too far and encourage the Biden administration to thwart efforts to revive a 2015 deal with Iran to limit its developing.

Israel opposed the original nuclear deal, reached under Obama in 2015, because its limitations on Iran’s nuclear enrichment would expire and the deal did not address Iran’s ballistic missile program or military activities in the region.

Rather than the United States re-entering the deal, which Trump withdrew from in 2018, Israel would prefer tough sanctions in the hope of leading to a broader deal.

The US president, who will travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday, said he also stressed to Lapid the importance of Israel becoming “fully integrated” into the region.

Their one-on-one talks marked the centerpiece of a 48-hour visit by Biden aimed at strengthening already close US-Israel relations. The leaders issued a joint statement emphasizing military cooperation and a commitment to prevent Iran, which Israel considers an enemy, from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

In the joint statement, the United States said it is ready to use “every element of its national power” to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.

Biden, in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 that aired Wednesday, offered strong assurances of his determination to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power and said he would be willing to use force as a “last resort” if necessary. .

[Incluye reporte de AP]

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and turn on notifications, or follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.