John Ratcliffe’s first official visit to the Jewish state since taking office comes amid U.S. attempts to revive negotiations on a nuclear deal with the Iranian regime, as well as with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
By JNS
CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad chief David Barnea at the premier’s office in Jerusalem on Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s Office announced.
No readout of the meeting was provided by Jerusalem or the CIA.
Ratcliffe’s first official visit to the Jewish state since taking office came amid U.S. attempts to revive negotiations on a nuclear deal with the Iranian regime, as well as with Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Iranian and U.S. officials are set to meet in Muscat, Oman on Saturday for top-level nuclear talks, which Washington has claimed would be direct but Tehran says will be conducted through mediators.
Iranian state media reported on Tuesday that the talks would be led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff, with Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood al-Busaidi, the foreign minister of Oman, as a mediator.
In an interview with NBC News in March, U.S. President Donald Trump warned that if no deal is reached to curtail the nuclear program, “there will be bombing—and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”
Witkoff has also attempted to revive talks on renewing the ceasefire and hostage release deal with Iranian-backed Hamas in Gaza. Israel recently accepted Witkoff’s proposal for a new temporary truce; Hamas did not. Following the terrorist group’s rejection of the bridging proposal, Israel began ramping up military operations in the Strip.
On Wednesday, during a visit to the Morag Corridor that cuts off Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah from central Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hamas is more likely to agree to release the remaining hostages following the resumption of war.
“Today, there is a higher likelihood of a hostage deal. The moment Hamas says that 11 living hostages will be released, we will halt the fighting,” said Katz.
The defense minister stressed to soldiers serving in Gaza that the goal of “Operation Strength and Sword” is first and foremost to achieve a new hostage agreement, according to the statement from Katz’s office.