U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Monday that unless the nuclear deal with Iran is "fixed," President Donald Trump will pull the U.S. out of it.
Trump's push to change or scrap Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and concerns over Tehran's foothold in Syria topped the agenda of his talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, U.S. and Israeli officials said.
Both leaders have long railed against the deal, citing its limited duration and the fact it does not cover Iran's ballistic missile program or its support for anti-Israel militants in the region.
In an address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee meeting in Washington, D.C. Monday, Pence said, "Thanks to the president's leadership the alliance between America and Israel has never been stronger, the friendship between our people's has never been better, and I stand here before you today on his behalf, to convey a simple message: America stands with Israel, today, tomorrow and always."
Commenting on the Iranian threat he said, "The danger posed by Iran has much further than its support of terrorism, as we all know. That regime continues to develop advanced ballistic missiles that can threaten every square inch of Israeli soil, and the lives of all her citizens. And the disastrous nuclear deal signed by the last administration did not prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, it merely delayed the day when that vile regime can gain access to the world's most deadly weapons.
"President Trump has called on the Congress and our European allies to enact real and lasting restraints on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions. Earlier this year our president waived sanctions to give our lawmakers a and our allies a chance to act. But 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 stated.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley also addressed the AIPAC conference Monday, saying that the Trump administration's demand for the fair treatment of Israel at the UN is "actually a demand for peace."
U.N. bodies' bias against Israel "has long undermined peace by encouraging an illusion that Israel will simply go away," but Israel "is not going away. When the world recognizes that, then peace becomes possible," she said.
Touching on a series of anti-Israel resolutions passed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Haley said UNESCO was the U.N. agency with "one of the worst records of Israel bias." This, she said, prompted the Trump administration's decision to withdraw from UNESCO 10 months into this administration's term.
Haley warmly praised Trump's Dec. 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to set in motion plans to move the U.S. embassy there.
The State Department announced last week plans to open the Jerusalem embassy on May 14.
"Like most Americans, I knew what the capital of Israel was. To be more clear, I knew that Jerusalem was, is and will always be the capital of Israel," she said.
"This was not something that was created by the location of embassy. This is not something that was created by an American decision. America did not make Jerusalem Israel's capital. What President Trump did, to his great credit, was recognize 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 recognize that fact when others would not.
"Sometime in the future, the day will come when the whole world recognizes that fact," she said.
Haley said she hoped to return to Israel in May for the embassy's dedication.
"I hope to be there and join our great ambassador, David Friedman, on the day when we open our brand new American embassy in Jerusalem," she said.
Acknowledging that Trump's Jerusalem decision caused "a little bit of a stir" at the U.N., Haley said the U.S. would not forget the countries that voted to condemn the Trump administration's move.
"We're not forgetting that vote. As I said at the time: On that vote, we were taking names."
U.S. policies in the U.N. may draw criticism by "some people [who] accuse us of favoritism towards Israel," she said, but there was "nothing wrong with showing favoritism toward an ally."
She stresses that "this is not about favoritism," saying the U.S. approach was led by the "simple concept that Israel must be treated like any other normal country."
The U.S., she vowed, would continue to demand that Israel not be treated by the world body as "some sort of temporary, provisional entity. … It cannot be the case that only one country in the world doesn't get to choose its capital city."
