Mossad Chief: If Iran Fails, I Will Be Unemployed

The head of Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, stated, "If Iran fails, I will be unemployed; if it does not fail, I will be homeless." According to Israeli media, including Channel 10, Yossi Cohen made these unprecedented remarks during an annual budget allocation conference at his country's Ministry of Finance on Monday, October 21. Reports indicate that the Mossad chief recounted part of a recent conversation with "an American counterpart" to the attendees, adding: "He asked me what would happen if Iran fails; I replied that if we can defeat Iran, I might lose my job, but if Iran does not fail, I might become homeless. I prefer the latter." Cohen also praised Donald Trump, the President of the United States, for withdrawing from the JCPOA, the nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran, and for recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, stating: "Undoubtedly, Trump's entry into the White House has improved Israel's position and clarified the distinction between the good and the bad." He also mentioned that during Trump's presidency, "the handling of various authorities in different parts of the Middle East has improved." In this speech, the Mossad chief added that the intelligence agency under his leadership is "at the forefront of combating threats against Israel, primarily Iran's nuclear program and its military presence in Syria." Yossi Cohen also stated that technological advancements, especially identity recognition technologies, have made the work of Mossad and intelligence agencies "more difficult." He referred to technologies available in smartphones and Instagram but specifically noted that the existence of biometric passports, which input human data into "global databases," has made "crossing borders particularly challenging." The Mossad chief said: "Wherever we go, we must account for the fact that security organizations are also becoming stronger; for ordinary people, these (technologies) are good, but for those who are not very interested, they create new types of challenges." Yossi Cohen mentioned that "fingerprints, iris scans, and faces" are used for anti-terrorism purposes rather than counter-espionage. This may refer to claims that have circulated in Western media over the years, alleging that agents from such organizations, including the one under Yossi Cohen's supervision, have utilized passports from various countries for their intended missions. Reuters recalled that in 2010, the United Arab Emirates accused Mossad of sending a strike team using fake Western passports to kill a senior Hamas member in Dubai, an allegation that was denied by Israel. According to Reuters, since Yossi Cohen became head of Mossad in 2016, there has been widespread belief that Hamas-affiliated forces have been assassinated in Malaysia and Tunisia. The Shia Crescent and "Iran's Missile Threats" According to Israeli media, the Mossad chief also stated in his remarks on Monday in Jerusalem that the situation in the West Asia region is taking on a new form, with the involvement of the United States, Russia, the Syrian and Iraqi governments, Iran, and Hezbollah in shaping this new reality. He stated that Iran's efforts to create a Shia Crescent from Tehran to Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, with the assistance of Iran's allies in the region, aim to encircle Sunni governments in the area. Yossi Cohen also listed confronting "Iran's missile threats" and Iran's support for the Palestinian Hamas movement among the missions of Mossad. Iran and Israel, two fierce regional adversaries for the past 40 years, have expanded their intelligence and espionage activities alongside escalating hostilities against each other. While the Mossad chief stated on Monday that confronting Iran is at the forefront of the intelligence agency's agenda, Mahmoud Alavi, Iran's Minister of Intelligence, mentioned in a television program in Tehran on September 27 that employing Dr. Gonen Segev, Israel's former energy minister, in Iran's counter-espionage sector, without naming him, demonstrates the intelligence power of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Israeli intelligence agencies repatriated this former minister from an African country earlier this year, and his trial in his home country has since begun and is ongoing.