Israel attacked ‘countless’ nuclear targets in Iran’s ‘heartland,’ says former Mossad chief

Yossi Cohen said Tehran was “lying to the whole world” about its nuclear ambitions.

By Debbie Reiss, World Israel News

Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen on Monday said that under his tenure Israel had carried out “countless operations” in the heart of Iran against its nuclear program, adding that the Islamic Republic was “lying to the whole world” when it said its program was for peaceful purposes.

“During my term as Mossad director, countless operations were conducted against Iran’s nuclear program,” he said to an audience of 1,500 Jewish leaders at a World Zionist Organization anniversary event in Basel.

“Without going into too many details, I can tell you the Mossad had many successes in the fight against Iran’s nuclear program,” Cohen said. “We operated around the world and on Iranian soil itself, in the very heartland of the ayatollahs.”

“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 IAEA,” he said, referring to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

“This regime calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and wiping it off of the map. We can never allow a regime that calls for our destruction to get its finger on the nuclear trigger,” he said.

“Iran seeks to encircle Israel, from Gaza in the south to Lebanon and Syria in the north. It funds, trains and arms terrorist groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, enabling them to shoot thousands of rockets at Israel’s civilian population,” Cohen said.

“This fanatical regime must never obtain the ability to accelerate its weapon of mass destruction that would be used against the Jewish state,” he added.

Cohen’s successor, Mossad director David Barnea, was last week quoted in Hebrew media outlets as saying the emerging nuclear deal is a “strategic disaster.”

“The agreement is a bad deal that gives Iran a license to manufacture a bomb,” Barnea reportedly said.

“The Mossad is committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The agreement does not apply to Israel, nor does the freedom of action to continue operating.”