Towards a historic agreement? The head of the Mossad secretly visited the United States

The head of the Mossad , Dedi Barnea, secretly visited Washington about two weeks ago and held talks with senior officials in the White House and the American intelligence agency, the CIA, on the subject of the Biden administration's efforts to promote an agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia that would also include the normalization of relations with Israel, journalist Barak reported today (Monday) Ravid Bawala! From two American sources.

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According to the report, the issue of normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia is only a small part of the initiative that the Biden administration has been promoting in recent months and includes a series of security, political and economic agreements between Washington and Riyadh. The Israeli government wants to try and influence the content of the agreements, which could have an impact on its security – such as the possible agreement on a civilian nuclear program in Saudi Arabia, which would include uranium enrichment or future arms deals between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

It was also reported that the White House wants to try and complete its "Saudi initiative" by the end of the year or the beginning of next year, before the United States presidential election campaign fully takes over President Joe Biden's agenda. The National Security Advisor at the White House, Jake Sullivan , visited Saudi Arabia last Thursday and met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other senior Saudi officials.

The White House said after the meeting that Sullivan and bin Salman discussed the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia and regional issues. "They also discussed initiatives to advance the common vision of a safe, stable, prosperous and connected Middle East," the White House said. American sources said that Barnea met with Sullivan at the White House ahead of the latter's trip to Saudi Arabia.

Jake Sullivan (photo: Ariv Liv Abrams, Flash 90)

Barnea also met with President Biden's senior advisor on Middle East affairs, Brett McGurk , and with Biden's energy advisor Amos Hochstein . McGarrack and Hochstein have been working for 18 months to improve relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and they accompanied Sullivan on his last visit to the kingdom. The sources stated that the Saudi issue was the main topic in the talks of the head of the Mossad with senior White House officials. An American source said that Barnea discussed the Saudi issue with the head of the CIA, Bill Burns , alongside other issues such as the Iranian threat.

A spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House refused to comment specifically on the meeting between Sullivan and the head of the Mossad. "We support normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia and continue to talk with our partners in the region about ways to achieve this," said the White House spokesman. The CIA declined to comment.