Joe Biden warns Iran US will use force as ‘last resort’ to prevent nuclear weapons

Mr Biden, who is currently in Jerusalem to meet with Israeli leaders, is expected to declare a “united stand” with the nation against their common foe.

Biden touched down in Tel Aviv on Wednesday for the first Middle East tour of his presidency, which will see him meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders before flying onwards to Saudi Arabia.

A senior official said the two leaders were due to sign a joint declaration in the near future.

The document “is going to be a living testimony to the unique quality, health, scope, depth and intimacy of the US-Israel relationship”, the Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“It takes a very clear and united stand against Iran, its nuclear program and its aggression across the region,” the official added.

Israel, like the US, is staunchly opposed to a nuclear deal Tehran signed with world powers in 2015 and which Biden is trying to get back on track after his predecessor Donald Trump withdrew US support.

Speaking in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, Biden said pulling out of the landmark accord was a “gigantic mistake”.

Iran is “closer to a nuclear weapon now than they were before,” the president said on Wednesday,

Asked whether the US would use force to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Biden said: “If that was the last resort, yes.”

The president’s meeting with Lapid will be followed by multilateral talks on investment with India and the United Arab Emirates, which will join remotely.

Mr Biden’s trip to the Middle East has fuelled speculation of a possible breakthrough in normalising ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which does not recognise the Jewish state.

The kingdom has repeatedly said it would stick to the decades-old Arab League position of not establishing official ties with Israel until the conflict with the Palestinians is resolved.

Analysts stress that, despite growing behind-the-scenes business and security contacts, any immediate gains are likely to be more incremental than the US-brokered Abraham Accords which created ties between Israel and two of the kingdom’s neighbours, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Yet the experience of Limor, who qualified for a tourist visa because he holds a non-Israeli passport, hints at changes in Saudi public opinion that officials hope could one day lay the groundwork for a formal bilateral relationship.

US officials say it shows meaningful progress towards the kind of deal that would, for Israel, represent the ultimate diplomatic prize.

“For too many decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was a great exporter of Jew-hatred,” said Deborah Lipstadt, Washington’s special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, in a speech this month after visiting the kingdom in June.

“But what I found is something quite different, something that has changed there dramatically in the last few years.”

Originally published as Joe Biden warns Iran US will use force as ‘last resort’ to prevent nuclear weapons