Mossad chief in US for talks 'on the situation in Iran': Axios

The head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, David Barnea, arrived in the United States on Friday morning for talks on Iran, according to an Israeli source and another person familiar with the meetings, U.S. news site Axios reported.

Barnea is expected to meet in Miami with U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who has remained in contact this week with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, despite heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran amid the Iranian regime's violent crackdown on nationwide protests.

Various human rights groups say the crackdown has left thousands dead. It remains unclear whether Barnea will meet President Donald Trump this weekend at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

Trump postponed a possible strike on Iran late Wednesday night after interventions by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman, according to information obtained by L’Orient-Le Jour. Israel also played a role in the delay, according to The New York Times.

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Iran-US: The night MBS averted the specter of war

US strike still possible

U.S. officials say military action is still on the table if Iran resumes the killing of protesters. After initially threatening intervention, Trump said Wednesday evening he had been told that the Iranian regime's crackdown on protestors had "eased" its killings and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions.

He has not ruled out the use of force, however, and preparations for a potential strike are continuing, including the redeployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier from the South China Sea toward the region.

Israeli officials think that despite the delay, a U.S. military strike could take place in the coming days, Axios reported.

Across Gulf countries, officials are broadly aligned around a central objective: preserving stability and preventing chaos in Iran in the event of war, military action or abrupt regime change. “The main beneficiary of such a scenario would be Israel, which is in no country’s interest in the region,” an Arab diplomatic source told L’Orient-Le Jour this week.