US President Joe Biden has been quite clear that on his watch Iran will never acquire nuclear weapons and he means it,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Dana Stroul said on Monday.
Stroul, who was interviewed by The Jerusalem Post’s Lahav Harakov during The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York, said: “A lot of the work that we are doing at the Department of Defense is to ensure that we have an updated and credible military option to use should we need one.”
Stroul said that when it comes to Iran’s nuclear program and its dangerous nuclear advances, the Biden administration prefers a diplomatic solution to put meaningful constraints on Iran. “But that has to be backed up with the willingness and the capability to use force should it be needed,” she said.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s job is to ensure that should President Biden ask for the military plans and options, and that he’s ready to provide them, Stroul said. “My job as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense is to make sure that we are on top of that,” she added. “So, number one there’s a credible military option although diplomacy is the preferred course of action to address Iran’s nuclear program.
Importance of US-Israel military cooperation
Stroul said the military cooperation between the US and Israel is extremely important. “We are working every day to deepen our military cooperation,” she said. “That includes exercises and intelligence sharing.”
She pointed out that last January the US and Israel participated in the largest bilateral military exercise in the history of the two militaries.
“Over 7,000 military personnel participated in the exercise,” Stroul said. “Part of this is to make sure that in an emergency the US and Israel can work together and to make sure that both our allies and adversaries in the region are taking note of the critical work we are doing together to be prepared should military force be required.”