John Brennan was the guest of Mossad chief Tamir Pardo and met with various members of the Israeli intelligence community, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
United States Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan came to Israel last week for a secret visit dealing mainly with the agreement developing between Iran and the world powers on Tehran’s nuclear program, and Iran’s involvement in terror and subversive activities throughout the Middle East, two senior Israeli officials have told Haaretz.
The senior Israeli officials, who asked to remain anonymous due to the secrecy of the visit, said that Brennan was the guest of Mossad head Tamir Pardo, and also met with other members of the Israeli intelligence community, including the head of Military Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Herzl Halevi. Brennan also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen.
A spokesman for the CIA declined to comment for this report.
Brennan’s visit to Israel last Thursday had been planned long ahead of time. However, it came at a sensitive diplomatic juncture, about a month before the date set for a comprehensive agreement between Iran and the six world powers on Iran’s nuclear program. It is unclear whether Brennan conveyed a message about the agreement to Netanyahu from President Barack Obama.
Israel and the U.S. are deeply divided over the emerging agreement; Netanyahu has said publicly that he opposes it and that he will try to stop it. Obama routinely rejects Netanyahu’s criticism, including in an interview two weeks ago with Channel 2, in which he said that the agreement was the best option to stop Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.