Israeli official: Biden told Mossad director U.S. isn't close to returning to Iran deal
02 May 2021
President Biden told the director of Israel's foreign intelligence service, Yossi Cohen, on Friday that the U.S. has a long way to go in talks with Iran before it agrees a return to full compliance of the 2015 nuclear deal, per a senior Israeli official briefed on the talks.
State of play: Cohen, who has been director of the Mossad since 2016, laid out Israel’s position on the issue, telling Biden it would be a mistake for the U.S. to return to the deal without improving it first. Biden assured Cohen that the U.S. will continue to seek Israel's input in the future.
Between the lines: A spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council said Cohen’s meeting at the White House Friday was with adviser Jake Sullivan and other national security officials. The spokesperson said Biden “dropped by to express condolences for the tragedy at Mount Meron."
- But a senior Israeli official disputed that description, saying the meeting Between the Mossad director and U.S. president wasn’t “a drop in,” and was not connected to the Mount Meron stampede, but was a pre-scheduled meeting specifically with the president to discuss Iran.
The meeting took place on Friday before noon, right after the phone call between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during which Biden offered condolences for the disaster.
- The meeting lasted around an hour, the Israeli official said. Cohen was the only person to attend it from the Israeli side. Biden, Sullivan and CIA director Bill Burns attended from the U.S. side.
- The White House declined further comment on the story.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.