News
US Vice President promises to fix or cancel Iran nuclear deal
US Vice President Mike Pence yesterday promised tough action on the Iran nuclear deal in the weeks ahead.
Speaking at the the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington yesterday he said: “Make no mistake about it, this is their last chance. Unless the Iran nuclear deal is fixed in the coming months, the United States of America will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal immediately.”
He said the “sunset” clauses in the deal “merely delayed the day” when Iran can obtain a nuclear weapon, whilst avowing that the US will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Pence said that US President Donald Trump’s Jerusalem announcement “is in the best interest of peace” and that “while any agreement will require compromise, the US will never compromise the safety and security of the Jewish state of Israel”.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley addressed the AIPAC delegates earlier in the day and spoke at length about her experiences at the UN. She said: “When I come to AIPAC, I am with friends. In the United Nations, we sometimes don’t have many friends”.
She said anti-Israel bias in the UN has “long undermined peace by encouraging an illusion that Israel will simply go away.” But Israel “is not going away. When the world recognises that, then peace becomes possible” because all sides will then “be dealing with realities not fantasies” and “reasonable negotiated compromises can prevail over absolutist demands”.
Haley also took aim at the Obama administration for abstaining on UN Security Council Resolution 2334 in December 2016 that condemned Israeli settlements, calling it a “shameful day” for the US, adding that “on my watch, that would never happen again”.
Haley praised Trump for his stance on Jerusalem and for moving the US embassy to the city. “What President Trump did, to his great credit, was recognise a reality that American presidents had denied for too long. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. That’s a fact. And President Trump had the courage to recognise that fact when others would not.” She also said she intended to come to Jerusalem for the ceremony to move the US embassy in May.