The head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence Agency will visit Washington next week to discuss the current negotiations over a return to a nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers, including the United States. The French news agency AFP reported on Sunday that chief David Barnea will “be visiting Washington in a week to participate in closed-door meetings in Congress on the Iran deal,” citing an unnamed senior Israeli official.
His trip would come following visits to the United States by Defense Minister Benny Gantz and national security adviser Eyal Hulata. It is not known whether or not the meeting was coordinated with the White House.
Barnea last week during a media briefing called the potential revival of the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015 and known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action “very bad for Israel” and “based on lies,” in remarks that were not coordinated with the Prime Minister’s Office and which caught Yair Lapid off guard, according to Israeli news reports.
Meanwhile, Israel and the United States are working to schedule a meeting between Lapid and US President Joe Biden, likely to talk about the US plan to sign on to a renewed nuclear deal. The meeting likely will take place at next month’s United Nations General Assembly meeting, according to reports. The two leaders are likely to speak by phone in recent days. Last week, Israeli news outlets reported that the White House rejected an Israeli request for an emergency phone call that between Biden and Lapid because the US president was on vacation.