During a joint press conference with his Israeli and UAE counterparts, Secretary of State Antony Blinken asserted that “we’re united in the proposition that Iran cannot be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. We believe that the diplomatic path is the most effective way to ensure that that doesn’t happen”. But with every passing day and Iran’s refusal to engage in good faith, the runway gets short”, Blinken added. “We will look at every option to deal with the challenge posed by Iran”. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid contended that “Iran is becoming a nuclear threshold country… The Iranians are clearly dragging their heels, trying to cheat the world to continue to enrich uranium, to develop their ballistic missile program”. “If the Iranians don’t believe the world is serious about stopping them, they’ll race to the bomb”, he emphasised, while warning: “Israel reserves the right to act at any given moment, in any way. That is not only our right; it is also our responsibility. Iran has publicly stated it wants to wipe us out. We have no intention of letting this happen”.