Israel Ready For Attacks On Iran’s Top Officials In Tehran
Mossad Director David Barnea says Israel is ready to launch attacks on senior Iranian officials if necessary to defend itself from the regime’s threats.
Mossad Director David Barnea says Israel is ready to launch attacks on senior Iranian officials if necessary to defend itself from the regime’s threats.
Speaking at an annual conference of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism Policy (ICT) at Reichman University in Herzliya, Barnea explained that proxies are Iran's way to conceal its terrorist activities. However, he emphasized that the Islamic Republic is practically responsible for everything, including terrorist acts, logistics, funding, and support for militant groups, all directed from the highest levels of leadership.
"The time has come to make Iran pay in a different manner," he declared. Barnea emphasized that any harm to Israelis or Jews, whether through proxies or Iranian weapons smuggled into Israel, would prompt Israel to take action against Iranians, "from ground-level operatives to the highest-ranking officials. I mean that," he emphasized. "These consequences will reach deep into Iran, even into the heart of Tehran," Barnea warned.
The spy agency, along with its allies in the international intelligence community, thwarted 27 attacks against Jews and Israelis abroad over the past year, he revealed. "The captured squads and the weapons seized alongside them all had specific targets," he said. "All of this was under Iran's direction and guidance. We are currently working to track Iranian squads to prevent them from harming Jews and Israelis worldwide."
Barnea also noted that these attempts occurred "across the globe, in Europe, Africa, the Far East, and South America." He presented videos showing the capture and interrogation of Iranian terrorist operatives by Mossad agents in Tanzania and Cyprus, two of the countries where such individuals were apprehended. Other countries on this list included Georgia, Greece, and Germany.
The videos used by Barnea in his presentation were also released by Iran International in late March. They featured an officer from Iran's Intelligence Ministry's unit 853, known as Hamidreza Abraheh or Hamid Salari. In the video, which appeared to be an interrogation or confession session, he disclosed the Islamic Republic's efforts to recruit agents from Africa's Baluch minority for terrorist operations in Tanzania.
Another video presented by the Mossad chief during the event showcased confessions from another Iranian agent named Yousef Shahbazi Abbasalilo. An IRGC intelligence operative, he was involved in a hit operation in Cyprus. The video, released in June, revealed Abbasalilo's account of entering Cyprus through the Turkish-occupied north, his surveillance of the initial assassination target, and his preparation and concealment of the weapon.
"All of this is under Iran's direction and guidance. We are currently working to track Iranian squads to prevent them from targeting Jews and Israelis worldwide," he stated.
Barnea also briefed the participants on the structure of Iran's intelligence community, using a chart that featured IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami and Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib at the top.
The Mossad director further claimed that Israel has thwarted multiple deals in which Iranians planned to sell short-range and long-range missiles to Russia, along with the UAVs they previously supplied for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "I have a sense that more such deals will be intercepted soon. We are concerned that Russia may meet Iran's demands for advanced weapons and raw materials, which could pose a threat to our peace and even our existence here," he added, hinting at the issue of nuclear weapons.
Barnea referred to the expiration of the UN arms embargo on Iran next month under the 2015 nuclear agreement, emphasizing that Iran would take advantage of this opportunity to acquire weapons more affordably. He cautioned that the world needs to recognize the danger posed by a terrorist state aspiring to become a nuclear power.
Iran's Defense Minister Ashtiani claimed earlier this month that all arms embargoes imposed on Iran are set to expire soon, expressing eagerness to expand military ties. European Union ballistic missile sanctions are scheduled to expire on October 18 under the UN resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal. However, European diplomats are considering retaining these sanctions.
He also criticized the US government for its secret agreement with Iran, granting the regime access to billions of dollars that had been frozen due to sanctions, in exchange for the release of five American hostages. Barnea pointed out that Iran is regaining its funds without relinquishing its nuclear progress, highlighting Tehran's failure to respond to IAEA monitroring demands and questions regarding the regime's nuclear violations.
On Saturday, Iran's Intelligence Minister claimed during a TV interview that the fight against Israel is one of the ministry's top priorities. He asserted that the main intelligence services operating against the Islamic Republic are those of England, Israel, and the United States, which also coordinate and direct the activities of other services.
Without specifying a time frame, Khatib added that the intelligence ministry has thwarted 400 bombing operations in the country, with 40 bombs planned to be detonated during religious gatherings in the Islamic holy month of Muharram, which ended in mid-August.
Hikmet Hajiev, a foreign policy advisor to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, said on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter that Baku had offered to simultaneously reopen the roads but that what he called the "illegal regime" in Karabakh had refused.
Earlier reports had said Baku and separatist ethnic Armenians in the disputed region had agreed to reopen two transport routes to the breakaway region, including the key Lachin corridor after weeks of a blockade that put the Armenian enclave in a humanitarian crisis. It was initially reported by Armenia's Armenpress state news agency Saturday and later confirmed by Baku but apparently it did not hold.
The separatist in Karabakh had announced that they would let in aid shipments from Baku-held territory for the first time in decades, and in return Azerbaijan would end blockade of road links to Armenia. It would be the first direct transport link between Azeri government-held territory and the province, which broke free of Baku's rule in the 1990s. It was reported that the move was driven by "severe humanitarian problems" in the blockaded region.
The United States is "deeply concerned about the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation" in Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday.
Karabakh is recognized globally as part of Azerbaijan but controlled by its population of around 120,000 ethnic Armenians since the 1993 war that coincided with the breakup of the Soviet Union. Azerbaijan recaptured large swathes of land in a second major war in 2020, and for the past nine months has restricted its access to Armenia through the Lachin corridor.
The road has been cut off apart for urgent medical cases, leading to severe shortages of food, fuel, and medicine as well as rationing of bread. To justify the blockade, Azerbaijan accused Armenia of using the corridor to smuggle weapons, and of rejecting an offer to reopen the road simultaneously with another route into Karabakh.
The cancelled deal was announced on a day Karabakh's parliament chose Samvel Shahramanyan -- a military officer and former head of the territory's security service -- as the new president of its self-proclaimed independent republic.
Azerbaijan, as well as its allies Ukraine and Turkey, condemned the election as illegal, amid days of escalating tensions that saw both Baku and Yerevan building up military forces along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian-Azerbaijan border. The European Union said it did not recognize the election, but that Karabakh residents should "consolidate around the de facto leadership" in talks with Baku.
Azerbaijan said on Saturday that Armenian forces had fired on its troops overnight, and that Azerbaijan army units took "retaliatory measures". Armenia denied the incident. However, during the past several days, footage has emerged of escalated military movements.
Tensions intensified earlier in the month after the Armenian Defense Ministry announced that it will hold a joint war game with NATO forces from September 11-20, dubbed Eagle Partner 2023, aimed at increasing the level of interoperability of units participating in international peacekeeping missions. The joint drill with the United States forces can be construed as Armenia leaning towards the West to secure support in case of a military conflict.
Traditionally, Baku has a close relationship with Turkey while Armenia leaned on Russia and Iran, both against any border changes between the two longtime rivals. However, Yerevan is now seeking wider international support and is distancing itself from Moscow, perhaps because Russia is engrossed in its invasion of Ukraine as well as its warming ties with Turkey and Azerbaijan. Russia sent peacekeepers to the area and promised to keep the Lachin corridor open as part of a peace deal that ended the 2020 war.
Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently complained that Moscow failed to live up to its assurances, and that exclusive dependence on Russia does not serve Armenia's security well anymore, a statement that Moscow described as "public rhetoric bordering on rudeness".
On Saturday, Pashinyan held phone conversations with the leaders of France, Germany, Iran and Georgia, and with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Azerbaijan also said its foreign minister discussed the situation with a senior US State Department official, Yuri Kim.
Amid simmering tensions, Iranian sources on social media have claimed that Tehran has sent a serious warning to Baku not to launch an attack. A channel close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards published videos of Iranian armored vehicles in the vicinity of Aras River, which borders Armenia.
Meanwhile, according to unconfirmed reports, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has warned Iran against intervening in Azerbaijan. “If Iran takes action against Azerbaijan, the Turkish Army will be quick to respond,”a telegram channel cited the Turkish diplomat.
Israeli television channel i24 claims that “Iran has been making every effort in recent weeks to fuel revanchist sentiments in Armenia, and acting on it by mediating arms purchases from India and demonstrating military support.” The media outlet cited unnamed Russian sources as saying that “Tehran may, in coordination with Yerevan, introduce its armed forces into the Armenian territory, as it has been one of the channels for the transfer of military equipment to Russia since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine.”
The Islamic Republic of Iran has previously cautioned against any alterations to the political geography of the Caucasus region and the adjustment of international borders. Iran declared that if either side seeks to change the geopolitical landscape of the Caucasus or international borders in the Karabakh region, Iran will set aside its neutrality and respond directly.