How Mossad Accessed Iran's Secret Documents; Hot Debate Among Israeli and Regional Media

A few days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's press conference, where he showcased initial documents of Iran's nuclear program, Israeli media have been more eager than any other country in the world to gather information about how Israel accessed these documents. Netanyahu's aim in displaying these documents was to "decisively prove" that Iran's goal with this program has been to produce a nuclear bomb and that Tehran has "shamelessly lied about the nature of its nuclear program over the years, and the JCPOA was based on the systematic lies of Iranian leaders." Meanwhile, international media, primarily relying on information initially published in Israeli media, have explored how the Israeli intelligence agency reached one of the most significant secrets of its enemy and extracted it from Iranian soil. The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported that the transfer of Iranian secret documents took place from Azerbaijan. Apparently, Al-Jarida's reference is based on the fact that among the countries bordering Iran, only Azerbaijan has close intelligence and military cooperation with Israel. Al-Jarida claims that the documents extracted from the outskirts of Tehran were loaded onto two pickup trucks and taken via two different routes towards the Iran-Azerbaijan border, while two Mossad agents accompanied the trucks until they reached the Azerbaijani border, where the shipments were handed over to security officials waiting on the other side. Al-Jarida added that officials in Baku were unaware of this matter. However, the article faced an official reaction from the Azerbaijani government after it was published in the Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post on Friday, May 14. Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesperson for Azerbaijan, told the Azertaj news agency in Baku that the government has seriously examined media claims regarding the transfer of secret documents of Iran's nuclear program from Azerbaijani territory and confidently stated that these claims are "false" and "fabricated." At the same time, Israeli television networks published multiple detailed reports on how this significant Iranian secret was obtained and interviewed former Mossad officials and special mission operatives. Israeli media reported in recent days that the hidden nuclear archive of Iran in Shourabad, on the industrial outskirts of Tehran, had been under surveillance for a long time and was evacuated from this location on the night of January 31, 2018, and taken out of Iran that same night. Yisrael Katz, Israel's Minister of Intelligence, also stated that "the day after the documents were taken out, Iran realized it." Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday night that "only a very few senior Iranian officials" were aware of the existence of this archive, and "even fewer in Israel knew about it." Israeli media, citing assessments from intelligence officials, reported that the responsibility for maintaining Iran's nuclear archive fell to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's intelligence organization, headed by Hossein Taeb. Ayala Hasson, an experienced Israeli reporter, stated during a program on Channel 10 television that "only five Iranian officials were aware of the existence of Iran's nuclear archive and its location." Hasson also confirmed that the documents of Iran's nuclear program were loaded onto a pickup truck from a seemingly simple and abandoned warehouse with a triangular roof on the night of January 31 and were transferred out of Iran that same night. The report claimed that Mossad agents entered Iran through the main airport in Tehran and "some of them possibly through land borders" using foreign identities. Ordinary videos taken from YouTube were also broadcast from Imam Khomeini Airport on the Tehran-Qom route and the path of a taxi in the context of these claims. According to Hasson, and with the confirmation of other participants in the news roundtable, if the Mossad agents had been caught, their punishment would have been "certainly execution after enduring horrific torture," and thus very strong individuals were selected in every respect. The report emphasized that "the credibility of executing this daring plan also goes to Yossi Cohen, the head of Mossad, who accepted the risk of carrying out this plan." Yisrael Katz, the Minister of Intelligence, stated that this operation might be the most significant successful intelligence operation of Israel in the past seventy years. Yuval Steinitz, Israel's Minister of Energy, mentioned in recent days that when this plan was presented two years ago to the political-security cabinet, "the idea of carrying it out seemed far-fetched." He stated that Israel had been working on this plan since 2016. Channel 10 television's report also claimed that two years were spent on efforts, training, and planning for this operation. Prime Minister Netanyahu said on Tuesday, one day after his press conference, in an interview with American networks that this archive arrived in Israel in early February (mid-February of last year), and immediately nuclear experts and translators were hired to understand the documents. The report from Channel 10 television also stated that from the day the documents arrived in Israel, many individuals with high-security clearances who spoke Persian were mobilized to translate 55,000 documents and materials on 183 stolen CDs into Hebrew, and more importantly, into English because the "main customer" who needed to be convinced of the existence of these documents to revoke the JCPOA was Donald Trump, the President of the United States. Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, who was the head of the CIA until last week and was himself one day before the documents were revealed in Israel, confirmed the credibility and authenticity of the documents. Channel 10 claimed that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the brain behind Iran's nuclear program, was also on the list of those targeted for assassination, but during Ehud Olmert's premiership, after several assassination attempts that led to the deaths of some of Fakhrizadeh's associates, it was reported to Olmert that assassinating Fakhrizadeh would endanger the team executing this plan, and it was better for him to stay alive so that by pursuing him, they would always know the direction of Iran's nuclear program. The program of this Israeli network also mentioned that Israeli intelligence regarding Iran's secret matters might also be related to the protection of Iranian regime figures. All these claims from this network and others have not been confirmed by any official Israeli authorities, but their reporters say that this information is part of the materials that have been allowed to be published. Channel 10 television rejected some reports published in recent days that the theft of documents was merely a cyber operation. One report claimed that by sending internet commands through cyberspace to Iranian systems, Iranian individuals themselves loaded the documents and sent them abroad, as apparently in the sent commands, they were warned that these orders were highly confidential and should not be shared with anyone! Iran has only mocked the presentation of these documents by the Israeli Prime Minister, but the main questions remain about why it has not fulfilled its commitment to destroy these documents after the JCPOA or why it has remained silent regarding negligence and incompetence in protecting an archive that is among the most important secrets of the Iranian government and which it promised to destroy during nuclear negotiations with global powers. Iran has also remained silent about the possible roles of its officials in the theft of nuclear documents, as the Israeli Prime Minister said on Monday night that "only a very few Iranians were aware of the existence of such an archive." Additionally, according to Ron Ben-Yishai's writing in Ynet, the execution of this plan was made possible by spending "large amounts of money." Iran's silence regarding its negligence about the stolen nuclear documents and the crisis in its relations with the world over the JCPOA comes at a time when Tehran has also preferred silence regarding the deaths of its military personnel during recent bombings attributed to Israel in Syria, and Aladdin Boroujerdi, the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, is the only official who, by stating that advisors will take revenge for their comrades "at the right time and place," has implicitly referred to the deaths of more Iranian military personnel in Syria. The massive explosion of a warehouse containing 200 surface-to-surface missiles that had recently "arrived from Iran" to a military depot on the outskirts of Hama during an attack last Sunday night, which three American officials described in an NBC interview on Tuesday, May 11, as the work of Israel, while these same American officials stated that the crisis between Iran and Israel has more potential than any other enmity in the world to escalate into war. General James Mattis, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, also said on Thursday, May 6, at a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting and immediately on the same day in a meeting with the Israeli Defense Minister who had traveled to Washington, that he could guess how a war between Iran and Israel in Syria would start, but he could not predict how far and where it would extend. In recent days, Israeli media have emphasized that the goal of the "daring plan" to transfer Iran's nuclear documents to Israel and their disclosure by the Prime Minister, with the support of the majority of intelligence officials and Mossad leaders, is to convince the U.S. to revoke the JCPOA or to cause significant changes to it, and now it remains to be seen whether all these efforts will influence Donald Trump's decisions or not; a decision that has less than a week remaining until its announcement on May 22. However, in Israel, some reporters, analysts, and politicians have criticized the very principle of revealing their country's intelligence achievements, deeming it detrimental; the most prominent of these critics are Yair Lapid, leader of the "There is a Future" party, and Ram Ben-Barak, former deputy head of Mossad. However, many in the country have agreed with the international community and the International Atomic Energy Agency that revealing these documents does not indicate a violation of Iran's commitments under the JCPOA over the past three years and should only show that Iran has lied in its statements that led to the JCPOA's formulation. The website Wallanews also evaluated on Saturday, May 15, the possibilities that if Israel succeeds in convincing the U.S. to revoke the JCPOA and also in response to attacks against Iranian forces in Syria, Iran may take what potential actions; this report mentioned the possibility of resuming uranium enrichment to "destabilizing the region" by Iran. Meanwhile, the article that Young Journal published in Tehran on March 21 regarding the Amad project can be noteworthy and may indicate that Iran, aware of the theft of nuclear documents, knew what awaited it. If multiple reports from Israeli media are correct that the nuclear documents were transferred from Shourabad to outside Iran on the night of January 31 to February 1 (just hours before the start of the celebrations known as the Decade of Fajr in Iran), then Young Journal, forty days later, and fifty days before the Prime Minister's press conference, knew that soon "Amad," Iran's initial nuclear plan, would be used as a basis for new pressures on Iran to, among other things, curb Iran's ballistic missile program and limit its range. The Young Journal article, titled "Amad, the Code Name for Accusations Against Iran's Missile Program," concluded with a phrase to the effect that "...it can be guessed that in the new round of pressures, these documents will also be cited as a record of Iran's efforts to equip ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads... but it might not be a bad idea for Iran's foreign policy apparatus to prepare and present solid documents to refute these records; a task that, given the current situation and America's willingness to address this issue, is an undeniable necessity." In this context, Israeli media: satellite images have recorded new movements at the Fordow site. Israel invited the intelligence organizations of countries to review Iran's nuclear documents. The White House stated that the problem is that the nuclear agreement was based on Iran's completely false claims. Netanyahu stated that Israel has no interest in war with Iran. An Israeli minister said that obtaining Iran's nuclear archive has increased Israel's deterrent capability. The White House stated that it is carefully reviewing Israel's documents and information regarding Iran. Zarif's reaction to Netanyahu's statements about "Iran's nuclear secret information." Netanyahu stated that Iran is pursuing a secret nuclear weapon program. Trump and Netanyahu discussed Iran over the phone. The changing battlefield of "proxies"; war against the people in the streets of Iran. The crisis in Iran; the responsibility of the opposition and the possibility of radicalizing Iranian society. The death of the last Mossad representative in Tehran amid the Iranian crisis. Internet shutdown in Iran has surpassed 300 hours; report on "evidence" of the deaths of injured persons under treatment. Accounts from three witnesses about the situation in Isfahan province; "like war-torn areas." The death of the last Mossad representative in Tehran amid the Iranian crisis. Trump emphasized "stopping executions in Iran": we do not know what will happen in the future. Trump announced an agreement to hold a meeting about Greenland in Davos.