The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Tuesday will make his first official visit to Israel since taking office, according to a report in Walla! News, citing Israeli officials.
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William Burns is expected to meet with his Israeli counterpart, Mossad Director David Barnea, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and other officials in the defense establishment and the intelligence community.
The focus of the talks with the CIA chief will reportedly center around tensions with Iran, including the country's nuclear program and aggressive actions in the region.
Tensions are high amid the recent rockets launched at northern Israel by Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon, and possibly Palestinian factions, and the deadly drone attack on an Israeli-owned oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman that Israel, the US and other Western allies have blamed on Tehran.
According to the report, the Israeli officials want to hear from Burns about what the US policy will be toward Tehran following the recent swearing-in of hardliner Ebrahim Raisi as president.
In a phone call on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron, Raisi expressed Tehran's determination to "maintain" its capacity for "deterrence" in Gulf waters and said that negotiations on reviving the 2015 nuclear accord should guarantee Iran's "rights."
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