JAKARTA - United States President Joe Biden has said he will use force as a last resort to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons as he embarks on a trip to the Middle East.
Speaking in an interview with Israel's Channel 12 TV that was recorded before he left Washington on Tuesday but aired on Wednesday, President Biden said he would include Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Tehran's elite force, on the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) US, even though it 'killed' the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Asked if his past statements that he would prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons meant he would use force against Iran, Biden replied: "If it is a last resort, yes."
Iran has denied seeking nuclear weapons, saying its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
Tehran reached a deal with six major powers in 2015, under which it limited its nuclear program to make it difficult to acquire weapons in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
However, US President Donald Trump reneged on the deal in 2018 and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to start violating the accord's nuclear limits about a year later.
Attempts to revive the deal have so far failed, with a senior US official told Reuters the chances of a revival were lower after indirect talks between the United States and Iran in Doha two weeks ago.
Negotiators appeared to be closing in on a new deal in March, but talks stalled in large part because of the US rejection of Tehran's request for Washington to remove the IRGC from its terrorism list, arguing it was beyond the scope of reviving the pact.
Asked if he was committed to 'keep' the IRGC on the FTO list even if it kills the deal, Biden replied: "Yes."
The IRGC, Iran's powerful political faction, controls a business empire as well as elite armed and intelligence forces that Washington accuses of carrying out a global terrorist campaign.
As previously reported, US President Joe Biden has landed in Tel Aviv in Israel on his first visit to the Middle East. Air Force One landed at Ben Gurion airport on Wednesday July 13, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
President Biden was warmly welcomed by Israeli officials led by Prime Minister Yair Lapid. In his speech, Biden described the depth of US relations with Israel.
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"The relationship between the Israeli people and America is very deep. I am proud to say that the US relationship with Israel is deeper and stronger than ever," said President Biden.
This is Biden's 10th visit to the country. The first was in 1973, when he was a first-term US senator from Delaware.
Biden will spend two days in Jerusalem for talks with Israeli leaders, including Lapid and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, before meeting Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday in the occupied West Bank.
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