President Joe Biden on Thursday pledged during a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid that the United States will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and will work with other partners to confront threats posed by Tehran.
Biden, who is on his first trip to the region since taking office last year, and Lapid also met virtually with leaders from the United Arab Emirates and India to deepen economic ties between the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Lapid, Biden said ensuring Iran never obtains a nuclear arsenal is "a vital security interest to both Israel and the United States" in addition to the rest of the world.
The pledge was stipulated in a joint declaration on the U.S.-Israel strategic partnership, signed by the two leaders following their talks in Jerusalem. The move is apparently meant to address the Israeli government's concerns over a 2015 Iran nuclear deal the Biden administration has been hoping to revive.
Under the deal struck with six major powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- Iran agreed to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the accord in 2018 and reinstated sanctions on Iran, and Tehran has been stepping up nuclear development and enrichment of uranium above a level allowed under the agreement.
Biden said Thursday the United States has "laid out for the leadership of Iran what we're willing to accept in order to get back in the JCPOA," referring to the deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
"We're waiting for their response. When that will come, I'm not certain. But we are not going to wait forever," he added.
In the U.S.-Israel joint declaration, Biden said the United States is "prepared to use all elements of its national power" to ensure that Iran will not possess nuclear weapons.
The United States will also continue to work together with other partners to counter Iran's aggression and destabilizing activities, including those advanced through proxies and terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, it said.
As the Biden administration seeks a more globally engaged Middle East, the leaders of India, Israel, the UAE and the United States agreed to cooperate to tackle food insecurity -- an issue that is drawing increasing attention amid Russia's war on Ukraine -- and work toward clean energy.
The UAE, which will host next year's key U.N. climate conference, will invest $2 billion to develop "agricultural parks" across India with the support of American and Israeli private sector experts, a project which Biden says has the potential to increase India's food yields in the region threefold in five years.
The parks will use state-of-the-art technologies to reduce food waste, conserve fresh water and employ renewable energy sources.
The group will also advance a renewable energy project in India to develop 300 megawatts of wind and solar capacity, complemented by a battery energy storage system.
"This meeting is just a first step, a chance to demonstrate the value of this new format for cooperation between our four nations," Biden said during the first summit meeting of the group called "I2U2."
UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan said the meeting is "clear evidence of the great opportunity for cooperation between countries and economies with shared value and goals centered around peace, tolerance, and prosperity."
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the gathering for bringing together "strategic partners" and expressed expectations that the group will make important contributions in the areas of energy security, food security and economic growth in the midst of "increasing global uncertainties."
