President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid had a conversation Wednesday about Iran's potential for acquiring or building a nuclear weapon.
During their phone meeting, the Israeli prime minister was reportedly concerned about how the rumored revival of the Iran Nuclear Deal might not deter the Iranians from securing enough nuclear materials for a fully functional bomb.
"The President underscored U.S. commitment to never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon," according to the White House readout of the midweek call.
The readout continued: "The President expressed appreciation for the warm reception during his July trip to Israel, a visit that illustrated the unbreakable bonds and friendship between our two countries. The president also emphasized the importance of concluding the maritime boundary negotiations between Israel and Lebanon in the coming weeks."
Lapid subsequently posted a message on Twitter, saying, "I just had a long conversation with my friend, @POTUS. I thanked him for his deep commitment to Israel's security. We discussed the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program and terrorist activity.
"Israel and the U.S. are resolute in our shared commitment to prevent a nuclear Iran. Israel has opposed a nuclear deal with Iran, and that difference of opinion between Biden and Lapid was on display when the president visited Israel last month."
The Iran Nuclear Deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action pact from 2015 (JCPOA), was an Obama-era creation in which Iran agreed to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium and also cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98%.
In return, the Iranian leaders reportedly collected $150 billion from other countries, including the United States.
Last month, former national security adviser John Bolton told Newsmax that diplomacy wouldn't be the answer to defusing Iran's nuclear capabilities.
"[Iran] can still be stopped, but somebody's going to have to [physically] do it. And it won't come from [reviving] the failed Iran Nuclear deal," said Bolton, while appearing on "The Record with Greta Van Susteren."
The original Iran Nuclear Deal was an expensive lesson for U.S. officials, says Bolton, since Iran apparently didn't adhere to the terms of the JCPOA agreement.
Iran's nuclear program, "as we know it, is extremely vulnerable," said Bolton, when brainstorming ways to vanquish the country's means for uranium enrichment and then converting the uranium to a gas-like state.
Prime Minister Lapid seemingly agreed with that rationale, recently characterizing the prospective Iran nuclear pact as a "bad deal."
"The countries of the West draw a red line, the Iranians ignore it, and the red line moves," Lapid said last week, according to The Associated Press.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the Biden administration is awaiting a response from Iranian and European Union officials regarding the proposed pact.
"We still remain hopeful that we can get a reimplementation of the JCPOA. We do believe we're closer now than we have been in certain recent weeks and months, due in large part to Iran being willing to drop some of their demands that were not related to the deal at all," Kirby said Wednesday.