The head of Israel�s Mossad intelligence agency visited Bahrain for talks with officials on Thursday, the Bahrain state-run news agency reported.

The trip came amid heightened tensions in the region over Iran and followed Israel�s recent deal to normalize relations with the island kingdom.

The brief statement carried by the news agency said only that Yossi Cohen met with Bahrain�s heads of national intelligence and strategic security to discuss �the most prominent security topics, regional developments and issues of common interest.� It did not elaborate.

The two countries opened diplomatic ties last fall in a U.S.-brokered deal under the Trump administration and following the United Arab Emirates� decision to normalize relations. The pacts, rejected by the Palestinians as a betrayal of their cause for statehood, signaled an increasingly explicit alliance between Gulf Arab states and Israel against mutual archenemy Iran.

Indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran over a return to Tehran�s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which former President Donald Trump abandoned, are now gaining traction in Vienna.

Israel and Gulf Arab sheikhdoms previously have voiced concern over a generous American rapprochement with Iran that doesn�t address the Islamic Republic�s ballistic missile program and support for regional proxies, in addition to its nuclear program.

(AP)