US president Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid will sign a joint declaration on Thursday committing the allies to work together to stop Iran developing a nuclear weapon.
Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday on his first trip to the Middle East as president and is meeting Lapid for talks on Thursday. “The joint declaration is a pledge and a commitment never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon and that we’re prepared to use all elements of our national power to ensure that outcome,” according to a senior US administration official.
Though the allies are presenting a united front on Iran, it is not clear the two sides agree on the best way forward. Biden still wants a return to the deal Iran signed with western powers to address its nuclear programme and believes that diplomacy to restore the 2015 deal does not preclude pressuring Iran on other fronts. Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards back proxy forces across the region.