BIDEN: Look, Israel can determine for itself -- it's a sovereign nation -- what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else.The interview continues:
STEPHANOPOULOS: Whether we agree or not?
BIDEN: Whether we agree or not. They're entitled to do that. Any sovereign nation is entitled to do that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But just to be clear here, if the Israelis decide Iran is an existential threat, they have to take out the nuclear program, militarily the United States will not stand in the way?What Biden says is nothing more than the absolute, legalistic truth, what he infers is something else again. He infers that Israel may very well attack Iran, while the U.S. stands by and says "tut, tut, we wish you hadn't done that."
BIDEN: Look, we cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do when they make a determination, if they make a determination that they're existentially threatened and their survival is threatened by another country.
Vice President Biden has a reputation for speaking before thinking. It will be interesting to see if the White House press office feels the need to "clarify" Biden's remarks.
