(PatrioticPost.com)- President Joe Biden reassured Israeli officials this week, telling them his commitment to their country is “iron-clad.”
Speaking on Monday with Reuven Rivlin, the president of Israel, Biden also said he can’t wait to meet soon with Naftali Bennett, the new prime minister of Israel. In his first meeting with a top official in the Israeli government as president, Biden promised that Iran wouldn’t possess a nuclear weapon while he was in the White House.
At the meeting that took place in the Oval Office, Biden said to Rivlin:
“My commitment to Israel is … ironclad. What I can say to you is that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch.”
Bennett only recently took over as prime minister of Israel, after an agreement that ended up ousting former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Officials in the U.S. are currently working on arranging a meeting between the new prime minister and the relatively new U.S. president.
After the meeting, Rivlin said of Biden:
“He’s going to invite the prime minister of Israel in the very next days in order to find a way to go forward and to exchange ideas.”
One of the main interests of the new Israeli regime is what America’s position will be toward Iran and other Arab-led regimes. The U.S. took a very hardline stance against Iran in particular, pulling out of the nuclear deal in 2018.
In his small time in the White House, Biden has dedicated to re-establishing talks with Iranian officials to potential re-enter a new nuclear deal with the country. Among the main concerns of the Biden administration are the level to which Iran is refining uranium, en route to ultimately developing nuclear weapons.
From Israel’s standpoint, the possible re-entry into a new nuclear deal with Iran is fearful because they worry Tehran could eventually acquire nuclear weapons. Those weapons would then make Israel vulnerable to threats and intimidation from the Iranian military.
To this point, the Biden administration hasn’t made much progress on re-establishing talks with Iran, since they haven’t bowed to Iran’s demand of the U.S. removing all economic sanctions it placed on the country.
Officials who were familiar with the talks between Biden and Rivlin, though, said the president assured the Israeli official that they shared the same objective. Biden apparently told Rivlin that the U.S. wouldn’t allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, and the U.S. would fully support the Israelis’ rights to defend themselves.
America has also pledged to help re-supply the Iron Dome defense system that was used heavily by Israel over 11 days of fighting in Gaza between Israelis and Palestinians.
That is certainly good news to many in the U.S. who have long backed a strong alliance between America and Israel, and were fearful of a back-down of that alliance under Biden.
Rivlin was taking his final trip as president of Israel when he met with Biden. He’s set to depart on July 7 after spending seven years in the position.
Isaac Herzog, the current chairman of the Jewish Agency, is set to take over as the country’s new president.
