Biden: U.S. 'cannot dictate to' Israel

WASHINGTON, July 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday Iraq and Israel both have sovereign rights the United States has no intention of infringing upon.

Biden, who made a weekend trip to Iraq, told ABC's "This Week" the United States isn't dictating to Iraq how to deal with internal problems such as the Kurds' desire for greater autonomy. He said Iraqi leaders did ask him to be a go-between with the Kurds.

Biden said "it's very important" that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders communicate to the people of Iraq, that they are a sovereign nation.

"They take directions from no one. That they are able to handle their own internal affairs," Biden said.

On Israel, Biden said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government can decide "what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else" regardless of what the U.S. position is.

"They're entitled to do that. Any sovereign nation is entitled to do that," he said. "If the Netanyahu government decides to take a course of action different than the one being pursued now, that is their sovereign right to do that. That is not our choice."

Asked if the United States would intervene if Israel was about to take action to disrupt Iran's nuclear program, Biden responded: "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, their survival is threatened by another country."