Ex-President Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018, claiming it had not curtailed Iran’s missile program and regional influence. Iran started ignoring the limitations of its nuclear program a year later.
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 News, taped ahead of a four-day trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, Biden said, “The only thing worse than the Iran that exists today is Iran with nuclear weapons.”
The president’s remarks come amid mounting tensions with Iran, and as Biden faces mounting pressure from key allies in the Middle East to devise a comprehensive plan to contain Iran, while hopes for the reviving the 2015 nuclear deal seems to be fading.
Biden said in the interview that he would use force “as a last resort” to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The president said he was also determined to keep the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on the list of foreign terrorists, even if doing so would destroy a potential deal.
The Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is a landmark agreement reached in July 2015 between Iran and several world powers, including the United States.
Under its terms, Iran agreed to dismantle much of its nuclear program and open its facilities to expanded international inspections in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
Leading up to Biden’s trip, the US has laid the groundwork to build a regional coalition against Iran and is urging Gulf states to integrate all of their air and missile defense systems against Iranian attacks.
The president further criticized the Trump administration’s foreign policy, saying, “There are those who thought that with the last administration we were more or less walking away from the Middle East, that we were creating a vacuum that China and/or Russia would fill, and we can’t let that happen.”
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He stressed that his trip to Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia, the first of his presidency, was aimed at working for stability in the region.
The president said he disagreed with other progressive Democrats who are highly critical of Israel and challenge US aid to the country.
He said: “There are very few of them. I think they are wrong. I think they are making a mistake. Israel is a democracy. Israel is our ally. Israel is a friend.”
He pointed to his government’s support for the Iron Dome air defense system and the new-generation, laser-enabled Iron Beam system, which he toured on his first day in Israel.
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