The director of Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, was in Washington on Friday for talks with top Trump administration officials about the war in Iran.
Axios reported that Roman Gofman, one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest confidants, would be meeting with CIA Director John Ratcliffe and was expected to travel later to Miami for meetings with White House envoy Steve Witkoff.
The White House and Israeli government officials would not confirm the meetings.
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Mr. Gofman’s visit to Washington follows a reportedly heated phone conversation last weekend between Mr. Netanyahu and President Trump that focused largely on Iran and whether the U.S. and Israel should renew combat operations against the Iranian regime.
Mr. Netanyahu is urging Mr. Trump to resume active combat operations against Iran. Mr. Trump has so far rejected the pressure from the Israeli leader, instead responding to requests from Arab officials in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates not to return to war.
Mr. Trump said they would prefer to continue the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports along the Strait of Hormuz.
“Should there be any change with respect to developments in the Middle East, the United States of America is ’locked and loaded’ and ready to go. At this point, however, that seems to be quite unlikely,” Mr. Trump said on social media. “Israel and the entire Middle East are protected from Iranian danger and threats.”
The president said they are seeing “positive momentum” toward an end to the fighting.
“At the conclusion of this military engagement, the American people and the world will be far safer and more secure,” Mr. Trump said.
The Israeli news site Ynet said the conversation between the two allies was an unusually difficult and heated exchange. A source called the conversation “a shouting match from hell.”
Israeli government officials characterized the reports of a quarrel between the two leaders as “fake news.”
Mr. Netanyahu lost his majority in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, after the Oct. 27 election. His political opponent, former Israel Defense Forces chief Gadi Eisenkot, received the approval of the Israeli president to form a government.
A source close to Mr. Eisenkot told Ynet that he doesn’t believe the current situation in Iran demands immediate military action. The two men met on Thursday so the challenger could be briefed on the war with Iran.
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