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CIA chief pays secret visit to Israel over Iran N-talks: Report

Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan (© AFP)

Director of the US spy agency CIA John Brennan has reportedly made a secret visit to Israel to brief the regime’s officials over the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 states.

Brennan traveled to Israel on June 4 and met with high-ranking Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and one of his advisers Yossi Cohen, to discuss the developments in the talks between Iran and the six world powers, Haaretz quoted two senior Israeli officials as saying on Tuesday.

The officials, who asked not to be named, said the CIA chief also held meetings with the head of Israel’s spy agency Mossad Tamir Pardo and the regime’s military intelligence chief Major General Herzl Halevi.

It is unclear whether Brennan conveyed a message from US President Barack Obama to Netanyahu about a possible comprehensive agreement over Tehran’s nuclear program.

The CIA has not yet commented on the report of Brennan’s trip.

Diplomatic efforts aimed at reaching a final agreement over Iran’s nuclear program have drawn angry reactions from Israel. The Tel Aviv regime has been lobbying intensely to thwart such a deal.

US Secretary of State John Kerry (R) and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attend a session of nuclear negotiations on May 30, 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. (© AFP)

 

Brennan’s visit to Israel came at a sensitive juncture, less than a month ahead of the June 30 deadline set by Tehran and its negotiating sides to finalize a deal, which seeks to end the Western dispute over Tehran’s nuclear case.

A few days before his visit to Israel, Brennan told the US-based CBS network that Washington and Tel Aviv are closely cooperating on the issue of Iran’s nuclear negotiations.

“The CIA, NSA (the US National Security Agency) and other intelligence community entities are working very close with their Israeli ... counterparts” regarding the talks, Brennan said.

Iran and the P5+1 states-- Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany -- have been working on the text of the final deal since they reached mutual understanding on key parameters of such an accord in the Swiss city of Lausanne on April 2.

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