Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad director David (Dedi) Barnea are in Washington DC, where they are expected to meet Tuesday with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff to discuss the looming Iranian nuclear threat facing Israel and the rest of the world.
Barnea met Monday with his American counterpart, CIA director John Ratcliffe.
Their visit to Washington comes on the heels of a “candid” discussion one day earlier between US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the US-Iran nuclear talks.
Noem traveled to Israel this weekend to attend a memorial for two Israeli Embassy staff members who were murdered this month in Washington DC. She told Fox News in an interview, however, that the real reason for her trip was to meet with Netanyahu about the Iranian nuclear situation.
Noem characterized her talks with Netanyahu and his team as “very candid.” She said Netanyahu’s team later told their US counterparts “they don’t remember a bilateral meeting that was quite that candid and direct — about how we really felt about the importance of Israel, our support for Israel — but that this negotiation was critically important too.”
Dermer and Barnea have met multiple times with Witkoff over the past several months to discuss the hostage release talks with Hamas and the Iranian nuclear threat.
Dermer met with Witkoff to discuss both issues this past March. The Strategic Affairs minister and Mossad director met again with Witkoff in Paris last month before his scheduled talks with Iranian officials over Tehran’s military nuclear development activities.
Witkoff met with Iranian officials this past Friday in Rome, but the talks lasted just three hours, with the American envoy leaving shortly after to catch a plane.
Iran is continuing to enrich uranium to 60 percent purity, which is a short step from the 90 percent purity required to fuel a nuclear weapon, and shows no signs of stopping.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has repeatedly stated unequivocally that Iran will not halt its uranium enrichment to reach a deal with the United States.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi warned at a meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors in April that Tehran has enough 60 percent-enriched uranium to produce several nuclear warheads.
In its latest report, the IAEA said Iran had an estimated 274.8 kilograms (605 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60 percent — enough for at least one nuclear bomb. The IAEA has found that Tehran has enough 60 percent-enriched uranium, which is easily converted to 90 percent weapons-grade purity, to make six nuclear weapons if it decides to do so.
