Mossad Chief Heads to Washington to Convey Demands on Iran’s Nuclear Issue

 A Russian worker walks past the Bushehr nuclear power plant, 1,200 km (746 miles) south of Tehran October 26, 2010. REUTERS/Mehr News Agency/Majid Asgaripour
A Russian worker walks past the Bushehr nuclear power plant, 1,200 km (746 miles) south of Tehran October 26, 2010. REUTERS/Mehr News Agency/Majid Asgaripour
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Mossad Chief Heads to Washington to Convey Demands on Iran’s Nuclear Issue

 A Russian worker walks past the Bushehr nuclear power plant, 1,200 km (746 miles) south of Tehran October 26, 2010. REUTERS/Mehr News Agency/Majid Asgaripour
A Russian worker walks past the Bushehr nuclear power plant, 1,200 km (746 miles) south of Tehran October 26, 2010. REUTERS/Mehr News Agency/Majid Asgaripour

Yossi Cohen, the head of the Israeli Mossad intelligence service, is putting the final touches on the program of his upcoming visit to Washington, which may include a meeting with the new US president, Joe Biden.

A report by the Israeli Channel 13 said that Cohen was expected to meet with Biden on his scheduled visit next month, to be the first Israeli official to meet the new president after taking office.

Cohen will also hold talks with other officials, including US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns.

In Washington, Cohen will focus on the Iranian issue and the United States’ intention to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal.

Reports in Tel Aviv said that Cohen was determined to present Israeli information and demands in exchange for any new agreement that Washington intends to conclude with Tehran. The demands seek to curb Iran’s regional ambitions, the reports said.

The Mossad chief is expected to offer to the Biden administration all the information that Israel has collected about the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and to demand that any new agreement include stricter commitments from Tehran that would ensure its inability to obtain nuclear weapons.

Those comprise halting uranium enrichment, stopping all support for armed organizations, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and ending its military presence in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

The demands would also include, according to the reports, ceasing Iranian attacks against Israeli targets abroad and granting full access to the International Atomic Energy Agency to all the aspects of Iran’s nuclear program.

Antony Blinken, the new Secretary of State in the Biden administration, told US senators at a hearing last week that the State Department would hold consultations with Israel and other allies before raising the issue of returning to the nuclear deal with Iran.



Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says Latest Phone Call with Trump His Most Productive Yet

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says Latest Phone Call with Trump His Most Productive Yet

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that his latest conversation with US President Donald Trump this week was the best and "most productive" he has had to date.

"Regarding the conversation with the president of the United States, which took place a day earlier, it was probably the best conversation we have had during this whole time, the most productive," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

"We discussed air defense issues and I'm grateful for the willingness to help. The Patriot system is precisely the key to protection against ballistic threats."

Zelenskiy said the two leaders had discussed "several other important matters" that officials from the two sides would be considering in forthcoming meetings.

Trump told reporters on Friday that he had a good call with Zelenskiy and restated his disappointment at a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over what he said was Moscow's lack of willingness to work toward a ceasefire.

Asked whether the United States would agree to supply more Patriot missiles to Ukraine, as requested by Zelenskiy, Trump said: "They're going to need them for defense... They're going to need something because they're being hit pretty hard."

Russia has intensified air attacks on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks. Moscow's forces launched the largest drone attack of the 40-month-old war on the Ukrainian capital hours after Trump's conversation with Putin on Thursday.