Mossad chief Roman Gofman visits Washington as Netanyahu presses Trump to resume the Iran war

The director of Israel’s Mossad spy agency was in Washington on Friday for talks with senior Trump administration officials about the war in Iran, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter¹.

The visit by Roman Gofman, one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest confidants, comes as the Israeli prime minister presses President Donald Trump to resume the war against Iran^1,9.

Gofman met CIA Director John Ratcliffe, the sources said^1,5.

He was also expected to travel to Miami to meet White House envoy Steve Witkoff^4,6.

Mossad, the CIA and the White House declined to comment¹.

Other accounts of the trip also had Gofman meeting Ratcliffe and senior administration officials to discuss the war^8,10.

Why it matters to investors

The trip is a test of whether the United States returns to open hostilities with Iran or sticks with economic pressure⁷.

Trump has so far rejected pressure from Netanyahu to resume the war¹.

He has favored continued economic pressure on Iran over renewed strikes, even as Gofman made Israel’s case in person⁷.

The meeting list is a measure of how seriously the request is being heard: the head of the CIA and the White House’s envoy for the region are both on Gofman’s schedule^3,6.

Witkoff is the US special envoy to the Middle East, which puts any Israeli push for renewed military action in front of the official handling Washington’s diplomacy with the region³.

Any decision to resume the war would mark a shift from the economic pressure that has so far defined the administration’s approach^1,7.

What to watch

The next signal is the outcome of the Miami meeting with Witkoff, which was expected after the talks in Washington^4,6.

A second is whether Trump’s position shifts after hearing Israel’s case directly from one of Netanyahu’s closest confidants^1,7.

Trump has also spoken about the war in terms of his own time in office, referring to the prospect of what he called “the crazies in Iran” still being in power when he leaves².

That comment sits alongside his rejection so far of Israeli calls to restart the war, leaving the administration’s next step open^1,2.

Gofman’s schedule, the CIA director in Washington and then the envoy in Miami, puts Israel’s request into both the intelligence and the diplomatic channel^3,5.

For now, the sources describe a visit focused on talks rather than any announced change in policy^8,10.