Joe Biden was due to receive the Israeli prime minister on Thursday.
But the interview was postponed after the attack claimed by the Islamic State group in Kabul, which left at least 85 dead, including 13 US soldiers.
"The mission there […] is dangerous and now comes with significant losses among American personnel, but it is a noble mission […]. We will carry out the mission," said Joe Biden. to journalists after his face-to-face interview with Naftali Bennett, Friday August 27.
"Priority to diplomacy"
The objective of this contact was in particular to lay the foundations for a new dialogue between the United States and Israel, at least in form, while Naftali Bennett's predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, close to the former President Donald Trump, has maintained notoriously strained relations with the previous Democratic administration of Barack Obama, of which Joe Biden was vice-president.
One of the main points of friction between Obama's and Biden's United States and Israel is over Iran's nuclear program.
Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the international agreement concluded by his predecessor in 2015. But since his arrival at the White House in January, Joe Biden has undertaken, so far unsuccessfully, to reintegrate the United States there as well as Iran, which has also gradually freed itself from it.
It was an honor to welcome Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to the White House today.
We strengthened the enduring partnership between our two nations and underscored the United States' unwavering commitment to Israel's security.
pic.twitter.com/nZYxp9zsWd
- President Biden (@POTUS) August 27, 2021
The subject was briefly discussed in the press before journalists were asked to leave the lounge where the interview was taking place. Joe Biden said the two were discussing "the threat from Iran and [their] commitment to ensure that Iran never develops nuclear weapons." "We give priority to diplomacy and we will see where it takes us. But if diplomacy fails, we are ready to turn to other options," added the American head of state, without giving further details.
Naftali Bennett, for his part, told reporters that he agrees with Joe Biden that other options exist if the indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran fail.
But he also refrained from specifying which ones.
The ultra-nationalist leader, who ended 12 years of uninterrupted power under Benjamin Netanyahu in June, was to during the interview urge Joe Biden to harden his stance on Iran and withdraw from negotiations aimed at relaunch the 2015 agreement.
With Reuters
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