Mossad managed to successfully carry out secretive operations in the “heart of Iran” targeting the country’s nuclear program, former agency chief Yossi Cohen has boasted.
“The Iranian regime is lying to the whole world, and we proved it when we brought thousands of documents from the Iranian archives, documents that proved that the Iranians lied to the [International Atomic Energy Agency,” Cohen said, speaking at a World Zionist Organization event in Basel, Switzerland on Monday.
Cohen was referring to the alleged 2018 operation by Mossad agents to steal tens of thousands of pages of info on Iran’s nuclear program.
Netanyahu used the documents in a special presentation in late April 2018 to lobby the Trump administration into pulling out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Donald Trump quit the deal shortly after, and Mossad later boasted that it had “carefully shaped” Bibi’s speech for maximum impact. Iranian officials dismissed the presentation as a “childish” and “ridiculous” ploy to get Trump to walk out of the JCPOA.
At Monday’s event, Cohen promised that the Jewish state would “do everything necessary to delay and prevent the Iranians from building atomic bombs that would threaten the State of Israel.”
Characterizing Iran as the top “global financier of terrorism in the world,” Cohen accused Tehran of calling “for the destruction of the State of Israel and wiping it off the map,” and of seeking to “besiege” Israel via militants in Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon.
Tehran has stressed repeatedly that it has no intention to pursue nuclear weapons, and pointed to Tel Aviv’s own widely suspected status as the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed power, questioning why the IAEA and the international community don’t pay more attention to this fact.
Looking back on other facets of his tenure as Mossad chief, Cohen also boasted about his agency’s role in the signing of the Abraham Accords – which saw the normalization of ties between Israel and Arab Gulf sheikdoms, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
“The work of the Mossad is not only intelligence gathering but also the promotion of peace. We saw these results in the signing of the Abraham Accords. I pray that more nations from our region will join the peace trend,” Cohen said.
The ex-spook did not elaborate on what role Mossad played in the accords. However, media reports from 2020 and 2021 alleged that Cohen had been tasked by Netanyahu to quietly speak to regional leaders seeking normalization, including not only the UAE and Bahrain, but also possibly Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has since denied these claims.
Yossi Cohen served as Mossad chief between January 2016 and June 2021. In 2020, Ronen Tzur, a senior advisor to Blue and White Coalition leader Benny Gantz, said Cohen had the right combination of “charm and cruelty” to succeed Netanyahu as prime minister. “Without the combination of both, you cannot be elected,” he said.