CIA Director Burns Holds Talks in Israel, with Focus on Iran

CIA director William Burns held talks in Israel on Wednesday with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. (Getty Images)
CIA director William Burns held talks in Israel on Wednesday with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. (Getty Images)
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CIA Director Burns Holds Talks in Israel, with Focus on Iran

CIA director William Burns held talks in Israel on Wednesday with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. (Getty Images)
CIA director William Burns held talks in Israel on Wednesday with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. (Getty Images)

US Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns held talks in Israel on Wednesday with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, with Iran high on their agenda, an Israeli statement said.

Regional tensions have risen over an attack on July 29 on an Israeli-managed tanker off the coast of Oman that Israel, the United States and Britain blamed on Tehran.

Iran has denied any involvement in the suspected drone strike in which two crew members - a Briton and a Romanian - were killed.

A statement issued by Bennett's office said the Israeli leader held talks with Burns in Tel Aviv, where "they discussed the situation in the Middle East, with emphasis on Iran, and possibilities for expanding and deepening regional cooperation".

Announcing Burns's visit, the statement said he met on Tuesday with David Barnea, the new head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, to discuss Iran's nuclear program "and other regional challenges".

Burns, who was sworn in as CIA director in March, was expected to meet Palestinian officials, including President Mahmoud Abbas, in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.



Iran’s Khamenei Calls for Death Sentence for Israeli Leaders

A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shows him addressing the crowd during a meeting with members of the Basij volunteer militia in Tehran on November 25, 2024. (KHAMENEI.IR / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shows him addressing the crowd during a meeting with members of the Basij volunteer militia in Tehran on November 25, 2024. (KHAMENEI.IR / AFP)
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Iran’s Khamenei Calls for Death Sentence for Israeli Leaders

A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shows him addressing the crowd during a meeting with members of the Basij volunteer militia in Tehran on November 25, 2024. (KHAMENEI.IR / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shows him addressing the crowd during a meeting with members of the Basij volunteer militia in Tehran on November 25, 2024. (KHAMENEI.IR / AFP)

The supreme leader of Iran, which backs the Hamas and Hezbollah fighters combating Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, said on Monday that death sentences should be issued for Israeli leaders, not arrest warrants.

Ali Khamenei was commenting on a decision by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense chief and a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri.

"They issued an arrest warrant, that's not enough... Death sentence must be issued for these criminal leaders", Khamenei said, referring to the Israeli leaders.

In their decision, the ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a "widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza".

The decision was met with outrage in Israel, which called it shameful and absurd. Gaza residents expressed hope it would help end the violence and bring those responsible for war crimes to justice.

Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes in Gaza.

The warrant for a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, lists charges of mass killings during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel that triggered the war on the long-blockaded Palestinian enclave, and also charges of rape and the taking of hostages.

Israel has said it killed Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike in July but Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied this.