Roman Hofman, head of Israel’s intelligence service Mossad, has arrived in Washington for talks with senior officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration about the war with Iran.
This was reported by Axios, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
According to the outlet, Hofman is meeting CIA Director John Ratcliffe. He is also likely to travel to Miami for talks with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff.
The visit comes as Netanyahu seeks to persuade Trump to resume a military operation against Iran. However, the US president has so far not backed the idea. During a phone call on 5 November, the leaders discussed the situation surrounding Iran.
Instead, Trump supports continuing the naval blockade and economic pressure on Tehran, while keeping open the possibility of a diplomatic deal. He said Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain favour maintaining the current approach.
As Axios notes, Hofman’s visit also comes amid political uncertainty in Israel. After the 27 October election, Netanyahu lost his parliamentary majority. His opponent Gadi Eisenkot received a mandate to form a new government, but it remains unclear whether he will be able to do so.
According to the outlet’s sources, representatives of Israel’s opposition fear Netanyahu may try to launch a new attack on Iran or provoke an Iranian strike on Israel in order to complicate Eisenkot’s efforts to form a government.
On Thursday, Netanyahu met with Eisenkot and briefed him for two hours on the situation surrounding Iran. A source close to Eisenkot told Axios that he does not consider the current situation to be one that requires immediate military action against Iran.
On Friday, Eisenkot said that during his meeting with Netanyahu and his military secretary he stressed the need to oversee the prime minister’s actions during the transfer of power.
"Israel’s security is more important to me than any other consideration and must never be used as a means of gaining political dividends. That is what I expect from all officials," Eisenkot said.
- In a series of media interviews over the past 24 hours, Trump said he would strike Iran only as a last resort. He also said that Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, had urged him to refrain from the planned large-scale military strikes.