US CENTCOM Chief Admiral Brad Cooper and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir have held their second meeting in a short period in the shadow of a possible Iran conflict, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The IDF announced on Sunday that the two had met on Saturday, showing "the personal connection between the commanders, and the tight strategic connection between the IDF and the US military."
Further, the IDF said that the Saturday meeting demonstrated "strengthening the defensive cooperation between the two states."
While the official statement only announced the one meeting, the Post has learned that the two met earlier in January, a few weeks ago, with no public announcement.
Moreover, Cooper has been crisscrossing the Middle East in recent weeks as tensions with Iran have heated up.
Close relationship between Zamir and Cooper
Officials have also noted that Zamir and Cooper were in almost constant phone and other contact during this period to coordinate a massive number of security issues.
The official statement issued Sunday noted distinct areas of cooperation without mentioning the word "Iran."
The "tight strategic connection" has been speculated to also include scenarios where Israel might participate in a US attack on Iran or at least could be helping the American military plan that attack following Israel's extremely successful attack on Iran in June 2025.
The reference in the statement to "defensive cooperation" likely refers to the large number of US aerial, naval, and missile defense assets like THAAD's which American media have been reporting have been moved either to Israel or to close enough by to help protect the Jewish state in the event that the Islamic Republic decides to fire ballistic missiles against israel for the fourth time since April 2024.
Waiting on Trump's decision regarding Iran
Broadly speaking, much of the world has been waiting with bated breath since early January to see whether US President Donald Trump will use military force to intervene on behalf of Iranian protesters, who the Iranian regime slaughtered around January 8-9, with numbers reaching around 5,000 dead and tens of thousands wounded and arrested at minimum.
One major factor is the arrival of the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, with its nine squadrons of aircraft, in the operational zone.
By the end of last week, estimates were that it could arrive in a matter of days, with the exact timing potentially kept secret to avoid tipping off Tehran.
The carrier strike group includes Arleigh Burke-class destroyers equipped with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles and the Aegis air defense system, which could also help protect Israel.
F-15 American aircraft have already flown into the area, along with refueling aircraft, and new aircraft joining the fray will include American F-35s, F/A-18E/F, EA-18G Growlers, helicopters, and other assets.
Publicly, Israel has said that it will not attack Iran first at this time, but that if Tehran attacks Jerusalem first, it will face a massive counterattack.
Trump himself has kept observers guessing about whether he will attack massively, symbolically, or back off with a deal.