US, Israel sign joint pledge against Iran during Biden’s visit

JERUSALEM (AA) – US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid have signed a joint declaration to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

“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 later said that 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.

Both the US happens to be the world’s biggest nuclear power with a stockpile of 3,750 warheads in September 2020. Although Israel has possessed nuclear weapons since the 1960s, it maintains a policy of nuclear opacity, never officially confirming the existence of its nuclear program. Israel has never signed the Non Proliferation Treaty. Estimates put the range of Israel’s stockpiles to be upto 700 warheads.