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Israeli Delegation to Visit the US Sunday to Discuss Iran Sanctions

Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi speaks at a memorial ceremony on Jerusalem's Mount Herzl national cemetery on April 11, 2021.
Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi speaks at a memorial ceremony on Jerusalem's Mount Herzl national cemetery on April 11, 2021.
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Israeli Delegation to Visit the US Sunday to Discuss Iran Sanctions

Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi speaks at a memorial ceremony on Jerusalem's Mount Herzl national cemetery on April 11, 2021.
Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi speaks at a memorial ceremony on Jerusalem's Mount Herzl national cemetery on April 11, 2021.

Senior Israeli intelligence and military officials are expected to travel to Washington on Sunday for talks with US officials on the Iranian danger and the potential harm in returning to the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

An Israeli security official said Friday that the trip aims to limit tension between Israel and the administration of Joe Biden on Iran’s nuclear program.

He said the Israeli delegation would request from Washington some amendments when discussing a deal with Iran, mainly not to lift all sanctions.

Israel also wants the US to include a clause in the new deal that will allow inspectors to visit Iranian nuclear sites without prior warning.

Political sources said that due to disputes in Tel Aviv between Netanyahu and the military leadership, a decision was taken to divide the Israeli delegation to Washington into two independent groups.

The military delegation shall include army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, Mossad head Yossi Cohen and the army’s military intelligence directorate head, Maj. Gen. Tamir Haymen.

A political delegation including Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat and Ambassador of Israel to the US Gilad Erdan is expected to arrive in Washington on Monday to launch an international campaign against Iran’s policies and its plans to dominate the Middle East.

The sources said the military delegation is scheduled to meet with a number of top US defense officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, head of the US Central Command Kenneth McKenzie, and head of the US Special Operations Command Richard Clark.

The Israeli news site Walla quoted a security official as saying that the timing of Kochavi’s visit to Washington is extremely important because an agreement between the US and Iran could be signed in a week.

“Therefore, this is our last endeavor to reveal to the US administration the military situation in the Middle East and the repercussions such deal would have on the region,” the news site said.

The official confirmed that in Washington, the Kochavi delegation’s discussions would focus on the nuclear deal and Iran’s role in the Middle East, especially in Syria and Lebanon.

Kochavi will give sensitive information about the nuclear deal, in addition to Hezbollah’s efforts to improve the precision of its missiles and the current cooperation between the Lebanese party and other organizations, he added.

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Ships with Missile Propellant Ingredient Reportedly Set to Sail from China to Iran

A picture shows copies of Iranian daily newspapers, including 'Sazandegi' (C) showing on its front page a picture of US President Donald Trump and a headline in Farsi reading 'Again Trump' at a newsstand in Tehran on January 21, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
A picture shows copies of Iranian daily newspapers, including 'Sazandegi' (C) showing on its front page a picture of US President Donald Trump and a headline in Farsi reading 'Again Trump' at a newsstand in Tehran on January 21, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Ships with Missile Propellant Ingredient Reportedly Set to Sail from China to Iran

A picture shows copies of Iranian daily newspapers, including 'Sazandegi' (C) showing on its front page a picture of US President Donald Trump and a headline in Farsi reading 'Again Trump' at a newsstand in Tehran on January 21, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
A picture shows copies of Iranian daily newspapers, including 'Sazandegi' (C) showing on its front page a picture of US President Donald Trump and a headline in Farsi reading 'Again Trump' at a newsstand in Tehran on January 21, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Two Iranian cargo vessels carrying an ingredient for missile propellant will sail from China to Iran in the next few weeks, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing intelligence from security officials in two Western countries.

The reported transactions could make the Chinese entities involved subject to US sanctions aimed at curbing Iran's weapons programs, as the two Iranian vessels are already under US sanctions.

The FT said the Iranian-flagged ships, the Golbon and the Jairan, are expected to carry more than 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate, which is used to make ammonium perchlorate, the main ingredient for solid propellant for missiles.

Ammonium perchlorate is among chemicals controlled by the Missile Technology Export Control Regime, a voluntary international anti-proliferation body, Reuters reported.

The FT report cited two unnamed officials as saying that the sodium perchlorate could produce 960 tons of ammonium perchlorate, enough to make 1,300 tons of propellant, which could fuel 260 mid-range Iranian missiles.

The officials said the sodium perchlorate was being shipped to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and that 34 20-foot (six-meter) containers containing the chemical had been loaded onto the Golbon, which departed the Chinese island of Daishan on Tuesday and was off the coast of Ningbo in China’s Zhejiang province early on Wednesday.

The FT said the Jairan is expected to depart China with 22 containers in early February. The officials told the FT that both ships, owned by Iranian entities, were expected to make the three-week voyage to Iran without making any port calls.
The officials said the chemicals were loaded onto the Golbon at Taicang, a port just north of Shanghai, and were destined for Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on the Arabian Gulf.

The FT said the officials could not say if Beijing was aware of the shipments.

The spokesperson for China's Washington embassy, Liu Pengyu, said he was not familiar with the situation reported by the FT.

Doug Jacobson, a Washington-based sanctions lawyer, said that while UN sanctions on Iran's missile program were no longer in effect, the Chinese entities involved in the reported transactions could face US sanctions against dealings with both the IRGC and the already sanctioned vessels.

Vann Van Diepen, a retired US non-proliferation official, said Chinese entities had been helping Iran's missile program since the 1980s. He said Iran probably had its own ammonia perchlorate production facility by now, but may need feedstock to make the chemical.

"It's probably not sort of a continuous flow thing," he said. "But from time to time, over these many years, these kinds of shipments will go on."

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but an official there, who did not want to be identified, said that if the missiles were designed to be used by
Russia in Ukraine, the shipment could be subject to US sanctions to curb dealings with Moscow.

In 2023, The United States imposed sanctions on people and entities in China, Hong Kong and Iran, including Iran's defense attache in Beijing, over accusations they helped procure parts and technology for Iran's ballistic missile development. It imposed similar sanctions on individuals and entities last year.