WASHINGTON – The US will consider options other than diplomacy if necessary to ensure Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, US President Joe Biden said at his meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in the White House on Friday.
“We are going to discuss the threat from Iran and our commitment to ensure Iran never develops a nuclear weapon,” said Biden. “We’re putting diplomacy first and seeing where that takes us. But if diplomacy fails, we’re ready to turn to other options.”
The president’s remarks come at a time when Iran is refusing to negotiate with the US to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, meant to restrict its uranium enrichment, while Tehran has advanced its development of a nuclear weapon to about two months from breakout.
A diplomatic source said the Americans did not seem optimistic about the chance of returning to the Iran deal.
Bennett thanked Biden for saying Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon, which was something he had hoped to hear coming into the meeting.
“These very days illustrate what the world would look like if a radical Islamic regime acquired a nuclear weapon,” Bennett said. “That marriage would be a nuclear nightmare for the entire world. Iran is the world’s No. 1 exporter of terror, instability and human rights violations. And as we sit here right now, the Iranians are spinning their centrifuges in Natanz and Fordo. We’ve got to stop it. And we both agreed.”
Bennett said the leaders and their staff will discuss ways to roll back Iran’s regional aggression and permanently keep it from breaking out to a nuclear weapon.
Following the meeting, a senior diplomatic source said that Bennett used the analogy of the Cold War when speaking to Biden, where the war was not won in a major battle, but by the US taking advantage in various ways of the weaknesses of a rotting regime that didn’t have the support of its population. Bennett’s plan to counter Iran includes “creative ideas,” the source said.
Israel wants to cooperate with the US, but is “not waiting. It’s already happening,” the diplomatic source said of Bennett’s plan.
The prime minister also pointed out to the president, according to the source, that six years have passed since the Iran nuclear deal was reached, and that the main advantage it had of buying Israel and world powers time before Iran could advance uranium enrichment is mostly gone.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki later clarified for reporters that when it came to Iran, “our first preference and our priority and our focus is on the diplomatic path and pursuing the diplomatic path forward.”
During the meeting, Biden expressed his “unwavering, unwavering commitment that we have in the United States to Israel’s security. And I fully, fully, fully support replenishing Israel’s Iron Dome system,” he said.
The US will work to bring “value added” to encourage the trend of Israel’s nascent ties with Arab and Muslim states, the president added.
Bennett and Biden also spoke of the crucial role of Israel’s historic partnerships with Egypt and Jordan to regional stability, according to the White House.
Biden praised the new Israeli government as “the most diverse in Israel’s history,” and noted, as he often does, that he has known every Israeli prime minister since Golda Meir.
Biden and Bennett met one-on-one for 50 minutes, before giving a statement to the media. Biden said that they had become good friends, and remarked that Bennett was very familiar with the Amtrak train route to Delaware from his days as a businessman; Biden was known for taking the train between his home state of Delaware and Washington as a senator.
After the meeting, Bennett told Israeli media that he had an “excellent feeling” in the meeting, and built a “personal connection” with the president, “like we knew each other a long time.” He invited Biden to visit Israel.
Bennett opened his remarks by expressing his condolences following the deadly ISIS attack on the Kabul airport, which killed at least 13 Americans.
“Those American service members lost their lives on a mission to save other people’s lives,” Bennett said. “That is the definition of courage and sacrifice. May they rest in peace.”
The prime minister added that “especially on this day, I want to make clear that Israel always stands together with the United States of America unequivocally.”
BENNETT WENT back to his much-repeated theme that he is bringing a “new spirit” from Jerusalem: of goodwill, cooperation, unity and the ability to work together for shared goals despite differences of opinion.
The new coalition wants to do good, but “in the Middle East, it’s not enough to be good,” Bennett stated. “If we want to do good, we have to be strong. We can’t lose sight for a moment of the fact we are in the toughest neighborhood in the world,” listing the many terrorist groups on Israel’s borders. “This is why we have to be stronger than all of our enemies combined.”
Bennett also said Israel hasn’t asked and never will ask American troops to defend Israel.
“That’s our job,” he said. “We will never outsource our security. It’s our responsibility to take care of our fate. But we do thank you for the tools and the back you’ve been giving us and you’re giving us.”
When it comes to the Palestinians, Biden said: “We also are going to discuss ways to advance peace and security and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians.”
A diplomatic source said that Bennett and the Americans know each other’s stances on the Palestinians and will “muddle through” their disagreements on matters like settlements, where Bennett plans to continue growth at the pace of recent years.
At the same time, Bennett and the Biden administration agree that Israel can work to improve Palestinians’ quality of life, both economically and by easing their passage through checkpoints into Israel.
The White House later clarified that Biden “noted the importance of [Israel] refraining from actions that could exacerbate tensions, contribute to a sense of unfairness, and undermine efforts to build trust.”
The president “reaffirmed his view that a negotiated two-state solution is the only viable path to achieving a lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the White House said.
Bennett emphasized the need for Hamas to release Israeli hostages and soldiers’ bodies from Gaza, the source said, telling the Biden administration that the Americans have a special responsibility to recover Hadar Goldin, an IDF soldier whose body Hamas has been holding since 2014, because Hamas killed him in violation of a US-negotiated ceasefire.
The issue of opening a Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem arose in the meeting, and Bennett said he is opposed.
“America had a consulate in Jerusalem for 130 years, but then they closed it,” the diplomatic source said. “There’s a difference between keeping the existing situation and making a change [by reopening the consulate]. If we allow the change, then more people will ask for it.”
The president also said he will direct his staff to work on a visa waiver program between Israel and the US, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced after his meeting with the prime minister on Wednesday.
The leaders also discussed the corona vaccination efforts, including the booster shot for the Pfizer vaccine.
BLINKEN, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk, Interim Ambassador to Israel Michael Ratney and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Barbara Leaf took part in the second part of the meeting with Bennett and Biden. The Israeli attendees were National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata, Cabinet Secretary Shalom Shlomo, the prime minister’s Chief of Staff Tal Gan-Zvi, his Military Secretary Brig.-Gen. Avi Gil, Ambassador to the US and UN Gilad Erdan, and Bennett’s diplomatic adviser, Shimrit Meir.
Bennett and Biden were supposed to meet on Thursday, but the bombing in Afghanistan took place an hour before the meeting’s scheduled time, leading to its postponement.
The two leaders spoke on the phone on Thursday night.
Biden thanked Bennett for his willingness to postpone their meeting following the events in Afghanistan, and said he looks forward to meeting him.
Following the delay, Bennett and his delegation remained in Washington until after Shabbat and were scheduled to depart for Israel on Saturday night.
Bennett’s visit to Washington was finalized days after the Afghanistan pullout crisis began. His staff and Biden administration officials said the timing was important due to developments on the Iranian nuclear front. However, the crisis in Kabul overshadowed the trip from its start on Tuesday.
The prime minister met with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday.
A half-hour before the meeting with Biden on Friday, Bennett participated via video conference in a memorial for his father, Jim Bennett, who died six years ago.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.