President Biden Continues First Trip to Middle East

President Biden is continuing his trip in the Middle East today. The president and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid are expected to sign a new joint declaration aimed at expanding the security relationship between their nations and countering efforts by Iran to destabilize the region. The declaration includes a ‘commitment to never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon’ and comes as Biden faces mounting pressure to present a comprehensive plan to constrain Iran amid rising tensions. It will also express support for the Abraham Accords, one of Trump’s legacy achievements that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries and pursued an expansion of growing Arab-Israeli security and economic ties.

Today, the president participated in the first virtual leaders meeting of the ‘I2U2’ group which includes Israel, India, and the United Arab Emirates. The focus for the meeting was food security as well as advancing clean energy. The UAE announced it was investing $2 billion in agricultural parks in India to tackle that crisis. Biden also met President Isaac Herzog of Israel and will meet with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later today.