Raisi Warns US Against ‘Mistake’ Amid Biden’s Threat to Use Force to Stop Iran From Acquiring Nuke

US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid signed a joint declaration on the state of the ‘strategic partnership’ between the two countries on Thursday, with the document including a formal commitment by Washington to stop the Islamic Republic of Iran from ever building a nuclear weapon using any means necessary.

Any “mistakes” by the US or its allies will be met with a “harsh and regrettable response,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has warned.

“Today, Islamic Iran is stronger than ever,” Raisi said in a speech during a visit to the western Iranian province of Kermanshah on Thursday, with his remarks cited by PressTV.

“We consider the power of the Americans to be weaker today than ever, and as the Westerners themselves say, the policy of maximum pressure against the Islamic Republic via sanctions and threats has failed, and they should not test these policies of the past again,” he said.

“The great nation of Iran does not accept any kind of insecurity and crisis in the region, and the Muslim nations of the region hate the humiliating relations of their governments with America, which has led to the looting of their countries’ wealth,” Raisi added.

Warning the “Zionist regime” in Tel Aviv not to get a “covetous eye on the Middle East and West Asia,” the Iranian leader suggested that the country “can never have normal relations in the region,” and that together, the US and Israel create nothing but “insecurity and terrorism.”

"Before the gathering of the resistant people of Kermanshah, I say that any mistake by the Americans and their allies in the region and the world will be met with a harsh and regrettable response," Raisi said.

Earlier in the day, President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid signed a joint declaration on the security partnership between their two nations, with Washington pledging “never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon,” and expressing its preparedness “to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome.”

The pledge followed President Biden’s warning in an interview with Israeli media on Wednesday that the United States would use force against Iran “as a last resort” to prevent Tehran from building the bomb.

Iran denies having any intention to build a nuclear weapons, with officials stressing that the country’s massive arsenal of conventional ballistic and cruise missiles is sufficient to defend against aggression. The country’s successive supreme rulers have also issues religious edicts against nukes and all other weapons of mass destruction, prohibiting the country from possessing or developing such arms. Iran ditched its chemical weapons stockpiles in the 1990s before signing on to the Chemical Weapons Convention.