Biden says US policy helped dramatically weaken Iran, marshalled coalition to defend Israel
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

US President Joe Biden credits his foreign policy for helping bring Iran to its weakest state in decades.
“Did you ever think we’d be where we are with Iran?” Biden asks rhetorically during his capstone foreign policy address at the US State Department.
He recalls the “despicable” October 7 attack by Iran-backed Hamas and Tehran’s subsequent missile attacks on Israel. “Twice they failed because the United States organized a coalition of countries to stop them and I ordered US aircraft to come to the defense of Israel.”
“Now, Iran’s air defenses are in shambles,” Biden declares, pointing to its “badly wounded” Hezbollah proxy and the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria.
While Iran has moved closer than ever to acquiring a nuclear weapon during his tenure, Biden says his administration kept up the pressure on the Islamic Republic through sanctions that have left Tehran’s economy in “desperate straits.”
Biden entered office pledging to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal abandoned by his predecessor Donald Trump. But that effort never got off the ground amid what Washington said was Iran’s intransigence.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it has been in decades,” Biden asserts while urging the incoming Trump administration to “carry forward the commitment that America will never, never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.”
“I cannot claim credit for every factor that led to Iran and Russia growing weaker in the past four years. They did plenty of damage all by themselves, and Israel did plenty of damage to Iran and its proxies, but there’s no question that our actions contributed significantly,” Biden says.
He acknowledges that authoritarian regimes are now aligning more closely with one another, “But that’s more out of weakness than out of strength.”
Biden touts the coalition he put together to protect civilian ships in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks, and he urges the incoming administration to “keep the pressure” on the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels.
“Today, I can report to the American people that our adversaries are weaker than they were when we came into this job four years ago,” crediting his efforts to restore alliances.