Joe Biden’s first trip to Israel as U.S. Vice-President – a visit designed to soothe irritated Israeli-American relations – began with a little sabre-rattling aimed at Tehran.

Iran’s ruling mullahs will be denied nuclear weapons, Mr. Biden declared, in a message certain to cheer his Israeli hosts. He made no mention of Israel’s own never-acknowledged nuclear arsenal.

“We’re determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons,” Mr. Biden said soon after arriving in Jerusalem yesterday. The U.S. has had the same long-standing policy toward both North Korea and Iran. However, the North Korean regime has ignored Washington’s threats and tested a nuclear weapon four years ago.

Mr. Biden’s five-day trip is aimed at mending frayed relations with Israel and trying to revive the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

“The cornerstone of the relationship is our absolute, total, unvarnished commitment to Israel’s security,” Mr. Biden said.

Many Arabs see U.S. attitudes toward Israel as emblematic of a double standard. The Jewish state is known to have nuclear weapons, yet successive U.S. presidents have never called for Israeli disarmament or compliance with international arms treaties.

Hours before Mr. Biden’s arrival – the Vice-President is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Israel since Barack Obama became president 14 months ago – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a particularly apocalyptic assessment of militant Islam going nuclear.

“The greatest threat facing mankind is the spectre of a militant Islamic regime acquiring nuclear weapons, or the spectre of nuclear weapons acquiring a militant Islamic regime. The first is dangerously close to happening in Iran, and the second may or may not happen in Pakistan,” he said.

The Obama administration is trying to round up international support for a new and tougher set of sanctions against Iran, but continued opposition from China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, makes that unlikely. “Dialogue and negotiations are still the best choice, and cannot be lightly abandoned,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said yesterday.