The US and Israel on Thursday have inked a joint declaration committing to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The declaration was signed in the presence of the US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in West Jerusalem. The two leaders reiterated their anti-Iran positions when they had one on one talks which was followed by the first ever I2U2 Leaders summit. This summit took place virtually and all the leaders – Prime Minister Narendra Modi, UAE Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid were present.
According to the statement the US and Israel have inked, to deny Iran the ability to arm itself with nuclear weapons, the statement states that the US will use “all elements of national power” available. The statement also included pledge by Washington to
The joint declaration also includes a pledge by Washington to continue military aid to Israel.
The visit of US President Joe Biden to Israel and Saudi Arabia which began on Wednesday had Iranian nuclear developments as one of the main agenda of discussions with Israel and Saudis. The US –Iran nuclear deal delivered by Barak Obama in 2015 and abandoned by Donald Trump in 2018 seems going nowhere, although President Biden remains keen to revive the talks.
Expert View
Sharing his views with Financial Express Online, Indian Army veteran Maj Gen Nalin Bhatia says, “The coming together of two parallel alliances, US-Israel-Saudi Arabia and Russia-Iran-Turkey, would certainly impact the developments in the Middle East.”
The present global political as well as economic situation remains in the throes of uncertainty. “Both Iran and Russia have been working together to forge closer relationships to break free from the sanctions regime. How the alliance shapes would be interesting from the perspective of new alignments that would emerge in the Middle East,” opines Maj Gen Nalin Bhatia (retd).
According to him, “Equally interesting aspect of the visit would be the meeting between President Biden and Saudi Crown Prince MSB on Friday, something that the President seemed not too keen on in the recent past, calling him a ‘pariah’ in his election campaign.”
Meanwhile, “Iran continues to challenge the USA and its allies; primarily Israel and Saudi Arabia, and continues with its anti US tirade by remaining defiant to come to negotiations on the nuclear deal. Iran continues to pursue its nuclear programme and encourages its Shia proxies to militarily target US in Iraq and Saudi in Yemen,” he observes.
Iran offers drones to Russia
Other interesting developments that would certainly concern the US are the reports of Iran offering its array of UAVs and weapons- capable drones to Russia for use in Ukraine.
“As is widely known, Iranian drone expertise has grown exponentially during the last couple of years. It has used drones extensively in Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. In fact Iranian drones, loaded with explosives have been a major headache for US troops in Syria,” he adds.
At the moment, the war in Ukraine seems to have brought Iran closer to Russia, due to both countries being at the receiving end of US sanctions.
According to the Indian army veteran and expert on strategic affairs, “The reports of forthcoming visit of Russian President Putin to Tehran on July 19 to attend a trilateral meeting with the leaders of Iran and Turkey — Ibrahim Raisi and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the backdrop of Iranian offer of drones to Russia would be keenly watched.”
The present global political as well as economic situation remains in the throes of uncertainty. “Both Iran and Russia have been working together to forge closer relationships to break free from the sanctions regime. How the alliance shapes would be interesting from the perspective of new alignments that would emerge in the Middle East,” he states.
