| Israel launches covert war against Iran
Israel has launched a covert war against Iran as an alternative to direct
military strikes against Tehran's nuclear programme, US intelligence sources have revealed. By Philip Sherwell It is using hitmen, sabotage, front companies and double agents to disrupt
the regime's illicit weapons project, the experts say. The most dramatic element of the "decapitation" programme is the planned
assassination of top figures involved in Iran's atomic operations. Despite fears in Israel and the US that Iran is approaching the point of no
return in its ability to build atom bomb, Israeli officials are aware of the
change in mood in Washington since President Barack Obama took office. They privately acknowledge the new US administration is unlikely to sanction
an air attack on Iran's nuclear installations and Mr Obama's offer to extend
a hand of peace to Tehran puts any direct military action beyond reach for
now. The aim is to slow down or interrupt Iran's research programme, without the
gamble of a direct confrontation that could lead to a wider war. A former CIA officer on Iran told The Daily Telegraph: "Disruption is
designed to slow progress on the programme, done in such a way that they
don't realise what's happening. You are never going to stop it. "The goal is delay, delay, delay until you can come up with some other
solution or approach. We certainly don't want the current Iranian government
to have those weapons. It's a good policy, short of taking them out
militarily, which probably carries unacceptable risks." Reva Bhalla, a senior analyst with Stratfor, the US private intelligence
company with strong government security connections, said the strategy was
to take out key people. "With co-operation from the United States, Israeli covert operations have
focused both on eliminating key human assets involved in the nuclear
programme and in sabotaging the Iranian nuclear supply chain," she said. "As US-Israeli relations are bound to come under strain over the Obama
administration's outreach to Iran, and as the political atmosphere grows in
complexity, an intensification of Israeli covert activity against Iran is
likely to result." Mossad was rumoured to be behind the death of Ardeshire Hassanpour, a top
nuclear scientist at Iran's Isfahan uranium plant, who died in mysterious
circumstances from reported "gas poisoning" in 2007. Other recent deaths of important figures in the procurement and enrichment
process in Iran and Europe have been the result of Israeli "hits", intended
to deprive Tehran of key technical skills at the head of the programme,
according to Western intelligence analysts. "Israel has shown no hesitation in assassinating weapons scientists for
hostile regimes in the past," said a European intelligence official,
speaking on condition of anonymity. They did it with Iraq and they will do
it with Iran when they can." Mossad's covert operations cover a range of activities. The former CIA
operative revealed how Israeli and US intelligence co-operated with European
companies working in Iran to obtain photographs and other confidential
material about Iranian nuclear and missile sites. "It was a real company that operated from time to time in Iran and in the
nature of their legitimate business came across information on various
suspect Iranian facilities," he said. Israel has also used front companies to infiltrate the Iranian purchasing
network that the clerical regime uses to circumvent United Nations sanctions
and obtain so-called "dual use" items - metals, valves, electronics,
machinery - for its nuclear programme. The businesses initially supply Iran with legitimate material, winning
Tehran's trust, and then start to deliver faulty or defective items that
"poison" the country's atomic activities. "Without military strikes, there is still considerable scope for disrupting
and damaging the Iranian programme and this has been done with some
success," said Yossi Melman, a prominent Israeli journalist who covers
security and intelligence issues for the Haaretz newspaper. Mossad and Western intelligence operations have also infiltrated the Iranian
nuclear programme and "bought" information from prominent atomic scientists.
Israel has later selectively leaked some details to its allies, the media
and United Nations atomic agency inspectors. On one occasion, Iran itself is understood to have destroyed a nuclear
facility near Tehran, bulldozing over the remains and replacing it with a
football pitch, after its existence was revealed to UN inspectors. The
regime feared that the discovery by inspectors of an undeclared nuclear
facility would result in overwhelming pressure at the UN for tougher action
against Iran. The Iranian government has become so concerned about penetration of its
programme that it has announced arrests of alleged spies in an attempt to
discourage double agents. "Israel is part of a detailed and elaborate
international effort to slow down the Iranian programme," said Mr Melman. But Vince Canastraro, the former CIA counter-terrorism chief, expressed
doubts about the efficacy of secret Israeli operations against Iran. "You
cannot carry out foreign policy objectives via covert operations," he said.
"You can't get rid of a couple of people and hope to affect Iran's nuclear
capability." Iran has consistently asserted that it is pursuing a nuclear capability for
civilian energy generation purposes. But Israeli and Western intelligence
agencies believe the 20-year-old programme, which was a secret until 2002,
is designed to give the ruling mullahs an atom bomb. | 
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