William Burns, the Director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), in an op-ed for Foreign Policy, outlining the CIA’s Spycraft capabilities in an “age of competition,” discussed “the complexity of the choices that the Middle East continues to pose for the United States,” which has been exacerbated by “Operation Aqsa Typhoon” on Oct. 7, 2023.

“I have spent much of the last four decades working in and on the Middle East, and I have rarely seen it more tangled or explosive,” Burns said, “They are all difficult problems…Winding down the intense Israeli ground operation in the Gaza Strip, meeting the deep humanitarian needs of suffering Palestinian civilians, freeing hostages, preventing the spread of conflict to other fronts in the region, and shaping a workable approach for the ‘day after’ in Gaza.”

The Key to the Middle East’s security is dealing with Iran, which has been emboldened by the crisis in Gaza, all while expanding its nuclear program and enabling the “Russian aggression [against Ukraine],” according to Burns.

“The United States is not exclusively responsible for resolving any of the Middle East’s vexing problems. But none of them can be managed, let alone solved, without active U.S. leadership.”

The Joe Biden administration has been facing intense scrutiny over its support for the Israeli Occupation in its aggression against Gaza, leading to rifts between Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden rejected Netnayahu’s opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, in addition to demanding that “Israel” scale down its operations in Gaza which resulted in an enormous death toll so far.

Biden and Netanyahu last call took place Jan. 19, in which Biden stressed that he “is not in for a year of war in Gaza” and wanted to see it end before the elections in November - US officials told Axios.