IDF Intelligence Chief and Mossad Head Visit Washington to Discuss Iran

Now that both carrier battle groups, that led by the USS Gerald Ford and the other led by USS Abraham Lincoln, are within striking distance of Iran, the Israelis have reason to believe that Trump has at last been considering an attack on the Islamic Republic that would decapitate its senior leadership, both clerics and military men, and embolden would-be protesters to return to the streets in overwhelming numbers, in order to bring down the regime. Two of Israel’s most important intelligence officials, the heads of IDF Intelligence and of Mossad, were recently in Washington to offer their advice on potential Iranian targets.

More on their visit can be found here.

IDF Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Shlomi Binder and Mossad Director David Barnea both recently visited the US to present a one-two punch for advice about how to handle Iran.

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Barnea landed in the US on January 16 and met with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and held other critical national security meetings, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

His visit came almost immediately after the critical call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump on January 14 in which, according to foreign sources, Netanyahu urged Trump to delay attacking Iran until more American forces were deployed in the region – both for offensive operations and for defending Israel.

Netanyahu is not against an American strike on Iran. For him it is only a question of timing. He counseled a delay in an American attack because he wanted to be sure that the Americans had enough resources in the region to succeed in whatever military task they chose to undertake, and that meant any strike should take place only after the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln had arrived in the region, adding its 90 aircraft to the 90 that were already present on the deck of the USS Gerald Ford. Now the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group has arrived, and Netanyahu is not counseling delay any longer.

Binder met with top US military officials this Tuesday and Wednesday, just as the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group arrived in the region, completing much of the American mobilization of new forces into the Middle East over recent weeks.

According to foreign sources, Israeli officials came to share intelligence about potential targets across Iran, while the Saudis are trying to offer a diplomatic solution.

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The IDF’s focus tends to be from the perspective of what American aerial power can achieve against a wide array of Iranian military targets and a variety of macro issues related to the regime’s sources of power.

The Mossad’s expertise tends to be related to the nuclear issue and providing support and analysis relating to the Iranian street and the balance of power between the regime and opposition forces.

In June 2025, Israel killed about 30 top Iranian military and intelligence officials and 11 nuclear scientists.

Barnea and Binder arrived in Washington to share with their American ally information on Iranian targets, both military — including weapons depots, command centers, senior officers, as well as sites where Iran has restarted its nuclear program — and civilian, which means the location of the Supreme Leader, his son Mojtaba, and dozens of the most senior clerics and political figures. They also must have shared information on where Iran has kept its 400 kg. of uranium enriched to a level of 60%, just below the weapons-grade level of 90%. Their visit was a clear sign that Israel believes an American attack is now being seriously considered to effect regime change in Iran.

President Trump has set out three conditions for Iran to meet if it wished to avoid an American strike. These are: first, for Iran to put a permanent end to its enrichment of uranium and agree to dispose of all its current stockpiles; second, placing limits on the range and number of ballistic missiles in Iran’s stockpile; third, end all support for its proxy forces in the Middle East. All three demands have been red lines for Tehran for years; there is not a chance in hell that Iran will agree to any of them.

That is why the armada, consisting of two carrier groups, has now been assembled, and 180 airplanes on the USS Gerald Ford and the USS Abraham Lincoln are ready, should the order to attack be given. And the two most important intelligence chiefs in Israel, David Barnea of Mossad and Brig. General Shlomi Binder, head of IDF Intelligence, who likely know more about Iranian military assets and senior officials than anyone else in the Western world, have just been in Washington to help their American ally with planning a target list.

It shouldn’t be long now.