The visit includes meetings with the US Secretary of Defense and State, Lloyd Austin and Anthony Blinken, and deals with the latest intelligence information about Tehran’s facilities, as well as Plan B in the event of the failure of the Vienna negotiations.
Gantz’s and Barnea’s visits come after a series of Israeli calls for the US administration to withdraw from negotiations with Iran, impose tougher sanctions on it, and threaten military action against it.
Israeli media say that Gantz andbarnea yaColored in persuading the United States to avoid returning to the 2015 agreement, rejecting a partial interim agreement, and instead seeking tougher Washington sanctions and a looming military option, as well as support for Israeli efforts to thwart Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
And resumed on November 29 last in Vienna, the indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran, which began last April, before stopping in June, after the election of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, but the negotiations stopped again on Friday, and the delegations returned to their capitals to study the Iranian proposals amid talk on its resumption Thursday.
The Europeans expressed their “disappointment and concern” over the Iranian demands, and senior diplomats from France, Germany and Britain said that “Tehran is backing away from all the hard-to-reach settlements” during the first round of negotiations between April and June, denouncing the “step backwards.”
What is the purpose of the visit?
At the beginning of the weekly session of the Israeli government, last Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said: “The foreign minister has returned from a series of meetings he held in Europe to discuss this matter, provided that during the next few days the defense minister and Mossad chief will go to Washington to follow up on this issue.”
He added: “Our goal now is to use the window of time that has formed between the rounds to tell our friends in the United States that it is the right time to use a different toolkit in the face of Iran’s ultra-rapid progress in the field of enrichment.”
The latest intelligence
According to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, the Mossad chief’s visit to Washington “comes against the backdrop of the resumption of talks on the Iranian nuclear deal, and after making a personal and unusual pledge this week that the Mossad will ensure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, as he heads to the United States to attend high-level meetings.” in Washington”.
The newspaper pointed out that “Barnea will brief senior officials in the US administration on the latest intelligence materials that he carries with him, including documents and information about secret nuclear facilities.”
In turn, the newspaper “Haaretz” described the visit of the Mossad chief as “very important”, explaining that it was commissioned by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
The newspaper added: “Barnea will try to persuade his interlocutors not to move forward with a temporary agreement with Iran, and mobilize the international community to impose harsh sanctions that would force Iran to withdraw from its nuclear program.”
Iron Dome
According to “Haaretz”, Gantz’s visit will also discuss the US rearmament of the “Iron Dome” short-range air defense system, worth $1 billion, after the Israeli army had exhausted it during the last war on Gaza last May.
The newspaper pointed out that Israeli Defense Ministry officials are “disturbed” by the Biden administration’s delay in obtaining congressional approval for additional security assistance for Iron Dome missiles and other munitions, and the delay in the promise of a billion dollars.
Israel’s national security
Iranian analyst, Omid Shoukry, said that Israel has been monitoring Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and has always stressed that “Tehran’s possession of the atomic bomb directly threatens its national security.”
Shoukry, senior adviser on foreign policy and energy security at the Center for “Gulf States Analytics” (based in Washington), added that it is not the first visit by the Israeli defense minister and head of the Mossad to Washington.
In June, the two Israeli officials made a similar visit, during which they discussed important security issues in the Middle East, most notably Iran’s nuclear program and Tehran’s improper behavior in the region, as the Biden administration has long believed that Israel’s security remains a red line for Washington.
He explained that with the failure of the seventh nuclear talks last week, and the opposition of all countries to Iran’s proposals, Tehran hopes to obtain more concessions from the United States and is pressing for the lifting of all sanctions imposed on its nuclear program.
He pointed out that there was a general movement before the start of a new round of talks, as diplomatic meetings increased in the region and in the United States, noting that “Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister (head of the delegation) Ali Bagheri Kani met before senior officials in Moscow regarding the continuation of the nuclear talks, It is natural for Israel to make diplomatic efforts before the start of a new round of talks to influence the outcome of the talks so as not to endanger its national security.
On Plan B, Shoukry said that Israel will stress the need for Western countries participating in the nuclear agreement with Russia and China to be ready to pressure Iran, whether diplomatically, economically or politically if the talks fail.
He added, “Israel is not optimistic about the outcome of the Vienna talks. In recent years, there have been many cyberattacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, and in some cases Israel is blamed for the attacks. Gantz will call on the Biden government to take a stronger stance against Iran.”
.