Republican Presidential Hopeful Mitt Romney warned all the countries in the region against harboring aggressive designs for Israel.

Republican Presidential Hopeful Mitt Romney warned all the countries in the region against harboring aggressive designs for Israel, and assured that “his first foreign trip as president is Israel and vowed to reaffirm that the staunch US ally must exist as "a Jewish state," Ynetnews reported Wednesday.

"I want every country in the region that harbors aggressive designs against Israel to understand their quest is futile and that continuing it will cost them dearly," the Israeli news website quoted him as saying.

Romney further blasted US President Barack Obama’s approach to Israel and said he has “immeasurably damaged Middle East peace prospects and failed to confront Iran”.

“He called on Israel to adopt indefensible borders... insulted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has been timid and weak in the face of the existential threat of a nuclear Iran…” Ynetnews reported.

“These actions have emboldened Palestinian hard-liners who now are poised to form a unity government with “terrorist” Hamas and feel they can bypass Israel at the bargaining table,” Romney added.

In a speech to be delivered Wednesday to the Republican Jewish Coalition, Ynetnews reported that “the US presidential hopeful declared that the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad should be indicted for the crime of incitement to genocide”.