Israel's Push to Resume Strikes
Israel is pressing President Trump to restart the war with Iran, and Mossad chief Roman Gofman is in Washington to make the case, according to Axios.
Gofman met CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Friday and is expected to meet envoy Steve Witkoff in Miami. Axios, citing three sources, says he was sent as part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's push to persuade Trump to resume strikes.
The Diplomatic Picture
Sending the Mossad chief, rather than a diplomat, signals that the Israeli case rests on intelligence about Iran's program and intentions. Meetings with both the CIA director and Trump's envoy suggest Israel is working every channel available to it in Washington.
The push comes after Trump publicly said the US does not need a deal with Iran, a stance that leaves the military option more prominent in the administration's posture. Whether Trump is persuaded is another matter: the decision, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio has put it in recent days, is the president's.
For now, the reporting describes lobbying, not a decision. But the presence of Israel's intelligence chief in Washington and Miami marks an escalation in the campaign to bring the US back into active strikes.
Options and Market Impact
Iran headlines move energy first. Any credible signal that US strikes could resume puts a bid under crude, and traders should watch USO and the major oil producers for call flow and volatility expansion. Defense names such as Lockheed Martin and RTX also tend to catch flow on Middle East escalation stories.
The trade cuts both ways: if the lobbying fails and diplomacy reasserts itself, the geopolitical premium in oil can unwind quickly. Positioning into weekend headlines around the Witkoff meeting carries gap risk in both directions, which is exactly what elevated implied volatility in energy names is pricing.
Bottom Line
Israel is openly lobbying Washington to restart the war with Iran, with its intelligence chief making the rounds from the CIA to Trump's envoy. No decision has been reported, but energy and defense traders should treat the headline risk as live until the meetings conclude.
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