Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea arrived in Washington for a series of meetings with US officials.
Upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington on Tuesday evening, Barnea met with senior officials of the White House, the US State Department, and the Pentagon.
He also met with the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns, and some members of the congressional intelligence committee.
Barnea aims to convince the US of the dangers of reaching a "bad" nuclear deal, and wants to boost security and intelligence coordination with the United States.
Israel's warnings of a bad nuclear deal resonate with US lawmakers, but its ability to bring about a fundamental change to the Biden administration's position on reviving the deal finds a lot of controversy and doubts.
The US administration seeks to achieve a diplomatic victory before the midterm elections. Washington hopes the conclusion of the deal to pump oil from Iranian energy sources into global markets would lower prices and provide European countries with alternative sources.
However, Israel's warnings do not seem to fundamentally change the US position, based on recent statements of officials in the State Department and the White House.
During the press conference on Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre stressed that President Biden would make a deal with Iran only if it achieved US national security interests.
"We have taken a deliberate and principled approach to these negotiations from the start. If Iran is prepared to comply with comments — with its commitments under the 2015 deal, then we are prepared to do the same," she said.
The spokeswoman hinted at preparations for multiple scenarios in the ongoing negotiations with Iran.
"The administration, along with our allies, is preparing equally for scenarios with or — and without a mutual return to the — to the full implementation of the JCPOA."
She asserted that Biden would only conclude a deal that he determines in the national security interest of the United States.
"Again, not going to negotiate, not going to have conversations or hypotheticals of what may or may not happen. We have been very clear about what we intend here, and it's to make sure that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon. And that is our ultimate goal here," said Jean-Pierre.
For his part, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters that there are "still gaps" between the negotiating parties.
Kirby asserted that efforts are still underway toward restoring the nuclear agreement, noting that the negotiations are swinging back and forth, and refused to give a specific date for ending these negotiations.
He indicated that the US gave its response to the European Union, and the Iranians have given their response, and there are still gaps.
"Suffice to say there are still gaps, and we're just not there yet," Kirby explained in a briefing.
"That doesn't mean that we're less committed to a deal. It doesn't mean that we don't still want to see if we can get there; we do. But there's still quite a bit of work for our diplomats to do."
Kirby indicated that the United States and President Biden are the strongest supporters of Israel's right to self-defense.
Kirby added: "We're not going to talk about hypotheticals here with respect to Iran. The president has been clear: You will not allow Iran to achieve a nuclear weapons capability," he continued. "[Biden] believes strongly that the best way to do that is through diplomacy."
Meanwhile, the State Department's Deputy Spokesperson, Vedant Patel, said that the Iranian response to the European Union shows that the gaps still exist.
"We've consistently said that gaps remain," Patel continued, "and it's clear from Iran's response that these gaps remain."
