U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark A. Milley speaks during a news conference with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (not pictured), on the day of the NATO defence ministers’ meeting at the Alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, February 14, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Johanna Geron

Israel hosted the top US military officer, Army General Mark Milley, on Friday for discussions that it said included the need for cooperation on denying Iran nuclear weaponry.

Milley made the previously unannounced visit ahead of a trip to Israel by Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin that will also include neighbouring Egypt and Jordan – US-aligned Arab states that have influence on Israeli-Palestinian affairs.

“Ongoing cooperation is required in order to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s office quoted him as telling Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Amid its long-stalled negotiations with world powers on renewing a 2015 nuclear deal, Western powers say Iran has made advances with technologies that could potentially yield it a bomb. Tehran denies having any such plan.

Milley spokesperson Colonel Dave Butler said the general and his hosts would “address the many challenges and opportunities facing Israel and the Middle East region” but the statement did not offer further details on the agenda.