In the midst of the diplomatic campaign to curb the Iranian nuclear program, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will visit Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, The Bulletin reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau and Mr. Biden's bureau have already started talks in advance of the visit.
Senior political sources say that the vice president's visit has two goals: To signal that the U.S. will stand by Israel's side and give it all necessary aid to cope with the Iranian threat, and to make clear to decision-makers in Jerusalem the concerns of the U.S. administration regarding the possibility that Israel will try to attack nuclear sites in Iran.
Echoes of these sentiments could be heard in the press conference held by U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, who arrived Sunday for a visit to Israel and was the guest of Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi.
About six months ago, Vice President Biden declared in an interview to ABC that if Israel should decide to attack nuclear facilities in Iran, the U.S. administration would not prevent it from doing so.
Two days later, President Obama clarified that it should not be concluded from his vice president's statements that Israel had a green light to strike Iran. Admiral Mullen's statements illustrate once again the position of the administration, which rules out a military move against Iran at the current stage.
Mr. Biden himself is expected to convey the message in the course of his visit to Israel.
Meanwhile, political sources with knowledge of the relationship between Israel and the U.S. and the highly sensitive issues that are related to cooperation between the intelligence communities, say "the intelligence ties have weakened over the past year, and lack the intimacy that characterized them in the past years."
The reason for this is the deadlock in the diplomatic process and the lack of negotiations between Israel with both the Palestinian Authority and the Syrian government.
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