Biden Meets with Israeli President: "Iran's Nuclear Program Unacceptable"

"Closely Cooperating with Israel... Supporting Normalization of Relations with Middle Eastern Countries"
Biden Plans Meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Bennett Next Month

U.S. President Joe Biden (right) and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin [Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] U.S. President Joe Biden met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the White House and expressed his firm stance that Iran possessing nuclear weapons will never be tolerated. President Biden also said he looks forward to meeting newly appointed Prime Minister Naftali Bennett soon.

According to the Times of Israel and The Washington Post (WP) on the 28th (local time), President Biden made these remarks during his meeting with President Rivlin, who is scheduled to step down early next month, at the White House.

President Biden said, "My team and I are already working closely with the Israeli government that took office this month," and expressed his anticipation to welcome Prime Minister Bennett at the White House soon.

He also stated his support for Israel's agreements aimed at normalizing relations with other countries in the Middle East.

Regarding the Iran issue, President Biden said, "Iran will never have nuclear weapons during my administration."

Currently, the Biden administration is engaged in discussions with Iran and six other parties?the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia, Germany?as well as the European Union (EU) to restore the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), which former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from.

However, Israel has opposed efforts to restore the agreement, arguing that such restoration would effectively allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons.

It is interpreted that President Biden’s reiteration of his commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons aims to alleviate Israel’s concerns.

He emphasized that the U.S. airstrikes on pro-Iran militia bases near the Syria-Iraq border the previous day targeted facilities responsible for recent attacks against U.S. forces.

President Biden also announced support for supplying missiles to Israel’s missile defense system, the Iron Dome.

Earlier, most of the Iron Dome missiles were depleted during last month’s clashes with the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The meeting took place immediately after the Rome meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid the day before. Minister Lapid is recognized as a key figure who led the formation of Israel’s coalition government and is expected to play a decisive role in Israel’s foreign policy.

During his meeting with Secretary Blinken, Minister Lapid conveyed Israel’s concerns regarding the restoration of the Iran nuclear deal, to which Secretary Blinken reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to close cooperation with Israel.

With this meeting, President Rivlin held his final talks with the U.S. president before stepping down next month. The Israeli president is a largely ceremonial head of state with limited powers, mainly overseeing tasks such as coalition formation after parliamentary elections.

Additionally, on the 13th, a new coalition government was formed through a parliamentary vote in Israel, with long-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepping down and newly appointed Prime Minister Bennett taking the helm.

According to the Times of Israel, U.S. officials are currently engaged in working-level negotiations aiming to hold a summit between President Biden and Prime Minister Bennett next month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.