Channel 12 television reported Sunday that the head of the Mossad intelligence agency Yossi Cohen is set to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden next month, in order to present Israel’s position on any new version of the Iran nuclear deal. The source of the Channel 12 report was not clear.
According to the report, Cohen is also expected to present Biden and senior U.S. defense officials, including the newly appointed CIA chief David Cohen, updated information on Iran’s secretive nuclear program. He will reportedly be accompanied by officials from the defense and foreign ministries. He was also reportedly expected to ask that the new administration compel Iran to heavily restrict their nuclear program, in light of Tehran’s ongoing breaches of the 2015 deal.
In 2018, former president Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement brokered by his predecessor Barack Obama and long criticized by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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Biden said before he took office that he wanted to use the previous agreement as a starting point from which to “tighten and lengthen Iran’s nuclear constraints, as we address [its] missile program.” Should the U.S. rejoin the deal, Channel 12 said, Jerusalem wants Washington to incorporate a number of core components into the agreement to ensure Israel’s national security.
These terms purportedly include a commitment from Iran that it immediately halt uranium enrichment and production of centrifuges, cease support for proxy terror groups in the region, primarily Hezbollah in Lebanon, and for terror attacks worldwide on Israeli targets.
Israel also wants the U.S. to end Iran’s military presence in Iraq, Syria and Yemen and compel Tehran to grant full access to inspectors from the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency, Channel 12 said.Biden’s designated secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told senators at his confirmation hearing last week that the State Department will hold consultations with Israel and other allies before returning to the Iranian nuclear agreement.
