JERUSALEM –
US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid discussed Iran’s rapidly progressing nuclear program on Thursday, with the Israeli leader vowing afterward that “there will be no nuclear Iran.”
The US president, who will travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday, said he had also emphasized to Lapid the importance of Israel becoming “fully integrated” into the region.
Their one-on-one talks are the centerpiece of a 48-hour visit by Biden aimed at strengthening already close US-Israeli relations. The leaders are expected to sign a joint statement later Thursday emphasizing military cooperation and a commitment to prevent Iran, which Israel considers an enemy, from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“We discussed the Iranian threat,” Lapid told reporters afterward. “There will be no nuclear Iran.”
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.
Reviving the deal brokered 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.
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. .
Iran announced last week that it has enriched uranium to 60% purity, a technical step away from weapons-grade quality.
The joint statement to be announced later Thursday could have significant symbolic significance for Biden’s meeting this weekend with Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia as he seeks to strengthen a regional alliance against Iran.
“I talked about how important it was for Israel to be fully integrated into the region,” Biden said after the personal meeting with Lapid.
Thursday’s meeting could also boost Lapid, who is serving as caretaker prime minister until elections in November. Lapid’s main opponent is former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the joint appearance with Biden could help burnish his credentials as a statesman and leader.
Israel will hold its fifth election in less than four years this fall.
Biden and Lapid are also scheduled to hold a joint news conference Thursday and participate in a virtual summit with India and the United Arab Emirates, a collection of countries known as I2U2. The United Arab Emirates will help finance a US$2 billion project that supports agriculture in India.
Lapid, 58, is a former journalist and television presenter who entered politics only a decade ago. He served as finance minister under Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, before becoming opposition leader and forming a diverse eight-party coalition that ended Netanyahu’s rule.
Naftali Bennett became prime minister, with Lapid as his foreign minister. But the coalition collapsed after months of infighting, and Bennett agreed to stand aside for Lapid until the election.
Lapid worked hard to solidify his credentials as a statesman while he was foreign minister. His aides believe that private face-to-face time, public appearances and displays of friendship with Biden, who, at 79, is making his 10th trip to Israel, will strengthen that image and make voters more comfortable with him. the idea of Lapid as their leader. .
Yet Netanyahu is running again for prime minister, and opinion polls have projected that his conservative Likud party will win the most seats in the upcoming election, well ahead of Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid party.
Neither party is prepared to capture the majority of seats needed to form a government on its own, and it is unclear whether either could form a governing coalition with smaller parties.
Biden downplayed the political uncertainty in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 that aired on Wednesday.
“We are committed to the state, not to an individual leader,” he said. Biden said Thursday of his meeting with Lapid: “We got off to a good start to a long relationship, God willing.”
Biden is expected to meet briefly with Netanyahu, with whom he has had a rocky relationship in the past. Notably, when Netanyahu was prime minister, his government approved a massive settlement project in East Jerusalem while Biden was visiting the country in 2010. Biden, then vice president, was furious.
Like Lapid, Biden also faces a political threat from his predecessor. Trump, a Netanyahu ally who still enjoys strong support from Republican voters despite his attempt to nullify the last election, could run for another term.
Asked by Channel 12 if he expected a rematch, Biden responded: “I’m not predicting, but I wouldn’t be disappointed.”
Given the United States’ status as Israel’s closest and most important ally, Biden is at the center of the country’s attention during his visit.
Israel organized an elaborate welcoming ceremony for him at the Tel Aviv airport, which included a red carpet and a band playing the national anthem of both countries. Major television channels set up special live coverage of Biden’s arrival and even aired a continuous loop of his motorcade traveling down the road to Jerusalem.
Biden can also expect to run into numerous politicians eager to take a photo with him, or perhaps share a comment about his administration’s attempt to rejuvenate the Iran nuclear deal.
Israel opposed the original nuclear deal, which was reached under President 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 US re-entering the deal, which Trump withdrew from in 2018, Israel would prefer tough sanctions in the hope of leading to a broader deal.
Biden will also receive the nation’s highest civilian honor, the presidential medal of honor, from Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday.
He is also scheduled to meet with American athletes participating in the Maccabean Games. Also known as the “Jewish Olympics,” it is the country’s largest sporting event that takes place every four years for Israeli and Jewish athletes from around the world.
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Megerian reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Jerusalem and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.