President Joe Biden promised to confront Iran and North Korea with “stern deterrence” in support of diplomatic efforts to manage the rogue states’ nuclear programs, using a major address to make a clear break with former President Donald Trump’s more hawkish rhetoric.
“On Iran and North Korea, nuclear programs that present serious threats to American security and the security of the world, we’re going to be working closely with our allies to address the threats posed by both of these countries through diplomacy as well as stern deterrence,” Biden said Wednesday evening during his maiden joint address to Congress.
Biden’s team is already working to rehabilitate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a reversal of Trump’s decision to withdraw from the pact and impose a “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign on the regime. His team’s approach to North Korea has put more emphasis on deterrence than diplomacy thus far, resuming military drills with South Korea despite North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s misgivings about the U.S. military’s presence in the region.
“I also told President Xi that we’ll maintain a strong military presence in the Indo-Pacific, just as we do with NATO in Europe — not to start a conflict but to prevent one,” Biden said.
RUSSIA BACKS ‘OUR IRANIAN FRIENDS’ AGAINST BIDEN IN NUCLEAR TALKS
Trump exited the Iran deal in 2018, delighting Middle Eastern allies who think it acquiesced to Iran’s potential to develop a nuclear bomb while alarming European allies who regard the pact as a way to defuse the risk that Tehran would build that bomb in the near future.
The “indirect” talks underway in Vienna have drawn applause and relief among U.S. allies in Western Europe but stoked unease among U.S. allies in the Middle East — such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
“I instructed the army to prepare a number of operational plans in addition to the existing ones,” Israeli Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi said in January. “We are taking care of these plans and will develop them during the coming year. Those who decide on carrying them out, of course, are the political leaders. But these plans have to be on the table.”
Trump adopted a similar rhetorical posture with respect to North Korea in the first year of his presidency. “North Korea best not make any more threats,” he said, promising to greet additional bad behavior “with fire and fury and, frankly, power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.”
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His attempt to broker a deal with North Korea faltered, analysts say, after his agreement to participate in a historic summit with Kim left North Korea and China confident that they need not fear any military operation.
