Outgoing deputy Mossad chief: Pompeo plan to turn Iran into Meretz unrealistic

Both the Trump administration and PM Netanyahu were criticized for failing to focus on the primary threats of Iran's nuclear program.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
US SECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem on August 24. (photo credit: DEBBIE HILL/REUTERS)
US SECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem on August 24.
(photo credit: DEBBIE HILL/REUTERS)
Outgoing deputy Mossad chief “A” has said that former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s 12 principles for resolving the standoff with Iran were so unrealistic that they were “like seeking to transform the Iranians into Meretz.”
In the second part of an interview A gave to Yediot Aharonot, which was published Friday, he criticized both the Trump administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allowing secondary threats from the Islamic Republic to cloud their focus on the primary existential threat of its nuclear program.
His criticism of Pompeo’s 12 principles was that it injected addressing Tehran’s precision guided missiles smuggling to Hezbollah and Syria and its other destabilizing regional activities into the nuclear standoff.
“How does this stay consistent with the fact that you said ‘for the State of Israel, the existential threat is the nuclear issue – not the other things?’” he asked rhetorically.
This criticism in no way paints A as a dove.
In the same interview, A lambasts England, France and Germany (the E3) for “hypocrisy and misplaced cynicism, which we saw in their dealing with Iran... which was unbelievably troubling. I am talking about their readiness to take a public position which is completely inconsistent with their knowledge that this group [Iran] are liars who are preparing, enabling and seeking nuclear capabilities.”
The comments A made about the E3 were in the context of justifying the publicizing of the Mossad’s January 2018 raid on Iran’s nuclear archive.
According to A, while some other leaks to the media about Mossad activities were counterproductive, publicizing the archive raid was crucial, because it forced the E3 and the rest of the world to confront the truth about Iran’s nuclear intentions.
Despite his criticism of the E3 and his support for the nuclear archive raid, A also disagreed with Trump pulling out of the nuclear deal in May 2018.
He said that Israel could have kept the deal running until 2025, since he confirmed that Iran was staying within the uranium enrichment limits, and then undertaken a military attack or other covert operations to set the ayatollahs back.
A also details how former Mossad chief Meir Dagan moved him from the Tsomet recruiting spies unit into the Caesarea lethal operations unit, initially against his will, but with his subsequent admission that it was the right move.
Later, former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo appointed him to head the Caesarea unit and current Director Yossi Cohen, who he knew previously from Tsomet, promoted him to be deputy of the spy service.
A expressed disappointment with Netanyahu’s decision to tap D, the deputy chief of the Mossad before him, as the next director.
A said he had more experience than D, but that D was picked since A was known for being an independent operator and Netanyahu wanted a Mossad chief who would not argue with him.


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