Israel's PM Bennett meets CIA chief Burns to review Iranian regional threat
Two discussed ways to broaden and deepen cooperation between Israel and the US in the Middle East
Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met Wednesday with US intelligence chief William Burns at the Tel Aviv district government center.
The two officials discussed strengthening intelligence and security cooperation between Israel and the United States, a statement from Bennett's office said.
According to the source, they also discussed the situation in the Middle East, with an emphasis on Iran, and options to expand and deepen regional cooperation.
Mossad Director David Barnea, new National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata, Military Secretary to the Prime Minister Maj.-Gen. Avi Gil, and Political Advisor Shimrit Meir also attended the meeting.
On Tuesday evening, Barnea spoke with his US counterpart while during the meeting, an Israeli agency official handed Burns a dossier intended to portray new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as untrustworthy and incapable of negotiating a new nuclear deal or honor its commitments, Channel 12 reported.
Barnea described Raisi to Burns as exceptionally "cruel, corrupt and mentally unstable."
The CIA chief's visit comes amid heightened tensions between Israel and Iran, particularly over the recent targeting of an Israeli-owned commercial vessel - Mercer Street - in the Gulf of Oman, an attack that left one Romanian national and a former British soldier dead. Bennett had previously presented the US and the United Kingdom with evidence that proved Iran's involvement in the mission.
Burns is also expected to travel to Ramallah in the West Bank on Thursday for a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian intelligence chief Majed Faraj, Israeli news site WallaNews reported.