US President Joe Biden indicated in an interview with Israeli Channel 12 during his visit to Israel at the start of his first tour of the Middle East that “we have to get back to the nuclear deal and the decision is now in Iran’s hands”, explaining that “withdrawal from the agreement on the Iran nuclear deal was a colossal mistake by the previous administration.”

He stressed: “We will resort to the use of force against Iran as a last resort to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons”, explaining: “We will not conclude a nuclear agreement with Iran if the matter depends on the removal of revolutionary guards from the list of terrorists.”

Earlier in the day, the Iranian Foreign Ministry indicated that “the parties to the joint action plan have agreed on 90% of the issues that have been reached regarding the Iranian nuclear file.”

Israeli Defense Secretary Benny Gantz said yesterday ahead of the US President’s arrival in Tel Aviv that “the first security issue to be resolved is combating Iranian aggression and Iranian nuclear efforts, and maintaining Israel’s operational capability to defend itself, in addition to establishing many cooperative relationships.