The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Bill Burns, will visit Israel on Tuesday, Walla reported Monday evening.
The trip comes just days after a series of attacks by Iran and its proxies on Israel and Israeli-linked targets, including an Israeli-operated oil tanker hit by a drone attack and a string of rocket attacks by the Hezbollah terrorist organization on northern Israel.
Burns is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem, as well as with top Israeli defense and intelligence officials, including Mossad chief David Barnea.
The CIA director will also visit the Palestinian Authority’s leadership in Ramallah during the trip, including PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas and PA intelligence chief Majed Faraj.
Earlier on Monday, Bloomberg reported that the Biden administration is no longer certain it can return to the Iran nuclear deal, following the recent escalations by Tehran.
Despite outwardly still calling for a return to the 2015 deal, the report cited officials who said the White House is beginning to look at other options, including limited sanctions relief in exchange for Iran pausing some of its nuclear program linked to weapons research.
The possible change in approach is a response to increased tensions between the US and Iran after the inauguration last week of Iran’s new president, Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner, along with multiple incidents, including rocket attacks by Iranian proxy Hezbollah on Israel and an attack on an oil tanker near the coast of Oman that was managed by Zodiac Maritime, a company owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, in which Romanian and British citizens were killed. The attack is being blamed on Iran, although it denies involvement.