Jerusalem, 2 May, 2021 (TPS) — US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met on Friday with Mossad chief Yossi Cohen to discuss security issues in the Middle East and the US’ attempt to renew the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.
President Joe Biden “jumped by” to the meeting to express his condolences over the disaster on Mount Meron in which 45 Israeli were killed.
Cohen became the first senior Israeli official to meet with Biden in an official capacity.
Cohen also met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and senior CIA and other intelligence officials.
Sullivan met on Thursday with Israeli NSA Meir Ben-Shabbat and Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan to “continue the close consultations between our two governments on regional issues.”
“The Biden-Harris administration is firmly committed to Israel’s security and deepening the partnership between our nations,” he stated.
The US and Israeli officials discussed their “serious concerns about advancements in Iran’s nuclear program in recent years,” the White House stated.
Israel and the US are engaged in discussions on the talks in Vienna aimed at renewing the nuclear deal with Iran.
Israel fears that the US will make concessions to the Iranians while they continue to develop their nuclear program.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed after the third round of Vienna talks on reviving the nuclear deal that the US has agreed on delisting Iranian sanctioned individuals and institutions.
However, State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated Thursday about the negotiations with Iran that there is “still a great distance to travel, and what we have said before about having more road ahead of us than road behind us remains accurate.”
Sullivan said Friday during an Aspen Security Forum webinar that the talks with Iran are in “an unclear place.”
Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen told Reuters on Thursday that “a bad deal will send the region spiraling into war.”
