Vice President Pence: US will always stand with Israel

US Vice President Mike Pence has hailed the bond between their country and Israel as “the best they have ever been," while addressing the annual conference by the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby group.

Pence, who was attending the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), held in Washington, DC, on Monday celebrated the Trump administration's efforts towards strengthening the United States’ relationship with Israel and commitment to fighting anti-Semitism around the world.

"We stand with Israel because that's what the American people have always done," he said. "We stand with Israel because her cause is our cause, her values are our values, her fight is our fight."

Pence also said that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal immediately, if it is not fixed. 

"Unless the Iran nuclear deal is fixed in the coming months, the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal immediately," Pence said.

"The United States of America will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon," he reiterated. 

US officials, whose country has thousands of nuclear weapons, often make unfounded accusations that Iran has been seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran has strongly denied the allegations.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly denounced the landmark nuclear accord. During his presidential election campaign, he threatened to shred the deal. He has been desperately trying to undo the nuclear agreement with Iran, which restricts his ability to pursue harsher policies against the Islamic Republic.

Trump's anti-Iran rhetoric comes as the longstanding Western dispute over Tehran's nuclear program was settled after the conclusion of a landmark nuclear agreement in 2015. UN Security Council Resolution 2231 also endorsed the nuclear deal, which went into effect in January 2016.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has also confirmed Iran's commitment to the terms of the nuclear agreement, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China -- plus Germany started implementing the JCPOA on January 16, 2016.

Trump has recently undermined the multilateral deal by introducing new rounds of sanctions against Iran.

PressTV-Trump skips annual AIPAC conference

The US president fails to show up at the annual conference of the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington, DC.

Last year, Trump skipped the annual conference, and instead dispatched Pence and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley to speak to the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group in his place. In his address, Pence had promised the US would defeat Daesh, defend Israel, and move its embassy to Jerusalem al-Quds.

This year he returned to report that he had kept those promises. "ISIS (Daesh) is on the run, their caliphate has crumbled, as we will not relent until we drive this menace from the face of the earth," he said.

Pence also highlighted Trump's recent decision will move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds in May of this year.

"While every president for the past two decades promised to recognize the capital of Israel, President Trump did more than promise, he delivered," Pence said. "We finally acknowledged the obvious. The State of Israel recognizes Jerusalem [al-Quds] as the seat of its government since its rebirth 70 years ago." 

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