Israel sabatoging Iran's nuclear program

Report: Israel secretly sabotaging Iran's nuclear program

British Daily Telegraph quotes US intelligence officials as saying Israel using assassins, sabotage, double agents and front companies to interrupt and delay Islamic Republic's nuclear drive

Ynet
Published: 02.17.09, 08:31 / Israel News

Israel is using assassins, sabotage, front companies and double agents in an effort to interrupt the Iranian nuclear program, US intelligence experts told the British Daily Telegraph.


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According to the report, Israel has gone as far as orchestrating the assassination of high-profile figures in the Islamic Republic's regime.



A former CIA officer told the British newspaper: "Disruption is designed to slow progress on the program, done in such a way that they don't realize what's happening…The goal is delay, delay, delay until you can come up with some other solution or approach."



A senior analyst with a private American intelligence company said that Israel's main strategy was to eliminate key Iranian figures.



"With cooperation from the United States, Israeli covert operations have focused both on eliminating key human assets involved in the nuclear program and in sabotaging the Iranian nuclear supply chain," she told the Telegraph.



In this regard, the paper mentioned Iranian nuclear scientist Ardeshire Hassanpour who died in what was defined as "gas poisoning" in 2007. His death has been linked to the Israeli Mossad.


Other top Iranian officials involved in the nuclear program have also been "taken out" by Israel, Western intelligence sources told the paper.


According to the report, Israel has also been using front companies to supply the Iranian regime with faulty or defective items for its nuclear plants.


However, a former CIA chief said he was skeptical as to the efficacy of these actions in causing substantial harm to the Iranian efforts. You cannot carry out foreign policy objectives via covert operations," he told the Telegraph. "You can't get rid of a couple of people and hope to affect Iran's nuclear capability."