Yossi Cohen, the head of the Israeli Mossad intelligence service, is putting the final touches on the program of his upcoming visit to Washington, which may include a meeting with the new US president, Joe Biden.
A report by the Israeli Channel 13 said that Cohen was expected to meet with Biden on his scheduled visit next month, to be the first Israeli official to meet the new president after taking office.
Cohen will also hold talks with other officials, including US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns.
In Washington, Cohen will focus on the Iranian issue and the United States’ intention to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal.
Reports in Tel Aviv said that Cohen was determined to present Israeli information and demands in exchange for any new agreement that Washington intends to conclude with Tehran. The demands seek to curb Iran’s regional ambitions, the reports said.
The Mossad chief is expected to offer to the Biden administration all the information that Israel has collected about the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and to demand that any new agreement include stricter commitments from Tehran that would ensure its inability to obtain nuclear weapons.
Those comprise halting uranium enrichment, stopping all support for armed organizations, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and ending its military presence in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
The demands would also include, according to the reports, ceasing Iranian attacks against Israeli targets abroad and granting full access to the International Atomic Energy Agency to all the aspects of Iran’s nuclear program.
Antony Blinken, the new Secretary of State in the Biden administration, told US senators at a hearing last week that the State Department would hold consultations with Israel and other allies before raising the issue of returning to the nuclear deal with Iran.
