Lapid indirectly criticizes Biden personally over Iran deal

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – As the US and other world powers make progress in reviving the shattered 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Iran nuclear deal, Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid has criticized the deal in such a way as to indirectly blame US President Joe Biden for negotiating a deal that could see Iran becoming a nuclear state, the Jerusalem Post reports.

The point of the original JCPOA was to restrict Iranian production of the enriched uranium needed to manufacture a nuclear bomb, in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. The deal fell apart when the US under former President Trump unilaterally pulled out of the agreement in 2018. Talks on reviving the deal began after the Biden administration was sworn in.

“In our eyes, [the Iran deal] does not meet the standards set by President Biden himself: preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear state,” Lapid said at a press conference on August 18.

It is well known that Israel has always opposed the JCPOA, considering that the deal was and is too weak to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Given the Iranian regime’s persistent threats to destroy Israel, the Israeli government views a nuclear Iran as a potential source of annihilation. However, Lapid’s statement is notable because he, and his predecessor Naftali Bennett, had determined they would cultivate good relations with the US, even though the Biden administration is currently negotiating with Iran, JPost said. In taking a stand against the renewal of the JCPOA, both Lapid and Bennett had sought to avoid the kind of hostility that developed between former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former US President Barack Obama at the time the original Iran deal was being negotiated.

According to the Jerusalem Post, most of the Israeli security establishment believes, with Lapid, that the revival of the JCPOA will place Israel in danger of nuclear attack by Iran.

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