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| Photo Source: The Associated Press. |
US President Joe Biden says he may resort to the use of force as a last resort against Iran to prevent the Persian country from developing nuclear weapons.
Asked by
Israeli news anchor Yonit Levi whether he would be willing to take a stronger
stance to ensure Iran does not get a nuclear weapon, Biden said, “As a last
report, yes,” Newsweek reports.
The
president who was speaking in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 News that
aired on Wednesday said he making frantic efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear
deal, noting that former President Donald Trump made the "gigantic
mistake" of withdrawing the U.S. from, according to Newsweek.
"The
only thing worse than the Iran that exists now is Iran with nuclear
weapons," Biden told Levi. "If we can return to the deal and hold on
tight—I think it was a gigantic mistake for the last president to get out of
the deal."
Biden added
that Trump’s withdrawal from the deal has helped Iran to inch “closer to a nuclear
weapon now than they were before."
Criticizing
the Trump administration’s middle foreign policy, Biden said: "There are
those who thought with the last administration we sort of walked away from the
Middle East, that we were going to create a vacuum that China and/or Russia
would fill, and we can't let that happen."
Biden also
said he would continue to keep Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
on the U.S. “foreign terrorist organization” list.
Asked if he
was committed to keeping the IRGC on the list, "even if that means that it
kills the deal," the president answered with a simple "yes,"
according to Newsweek. Biden acknowledged that his Middle East visit would
bring stability to the region.
"It's
in the overwhelming interest of the United States of America to have more
stability in the Middle East," he said in an interview recorded before his
Middle East visit, adding that, "The more Israel is integrated into the
region as an equal and accepted, the more likely there is going to be a means
by which they can eventually come to an accommodation with the Palestinians
down the road."
President
Biden is expected in the Middle East this week.