Target Tehran is the story of Israel’s attempts to thwart nuclear ambitions of Iran and efforts that led to normalization of Israel’s relations with Arab countries in 2020 that was called the Abraham Accords. Yonah Jeremey Bob and Ilan Evyatar are veteran Israeli journalists with reliable sources in Israeli security establishment. The book deals with two main subjects, first and a large segment deals with Israeli attempts to thwart Iran’s nuclear program and second, Israel’s efforts to normalize relations with Arab countries.
Book is of special interest to people interested in the Middle East and gives Israeli perspective on the conflict between Israel and Iran especially Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. A substantial portion of the book is dedicated to the story of Mossad’s theft of Iranian nuclear archives in January 2018.
There is some added information in this heist, but a substantial portion of the information was public in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) boring and technical reports over the years which few were interested to read. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu and Mossad’s chief Yossi Cohen decided to use this heist for public relations campaign both for domestic and international audience. Both spun the story for American politicians, diplomats, and intelligence officers to move them away from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal that the Obama administration had concluded with Tehran in 2015. The value of this successful campaign was President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the JCPOA nuclear deal and Israelis rightfully celebrated this achievement. The domestic angle of these disclosures was to polish the image of Bibi as ‘Mr. Security Guy’ and help his political stature. Cohen has his own political ambitions, and he is posturing to become the Likud leader in a post-Netanyahu era. This narrative helps his image of a dare devil intelligence operative who is in struggle with the devious Iranians to safeguard the future of Israel.
The second major subject of the book is Israel’s efforts to normalize relations with Arab countries. Mossad has been at the forefront of building these ties, and the book thoroughly examines its quiet engagement with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. The authors consider the Abraham Accords as a breakthrough for Israelis and hope that inclusion of Saudi Arabia would transform Middle East geopolitics. In this context Israelis are betting heavily on Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS). The most important thing to remember is that the author’s main source was former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen. This puts limits on how to decipher the information that was shared with authors based on which they reached their conclusions.
The book provides valuable information about Israel’s perspective and operations against Iranian nuclear ambitions but at times it is just praise for Israeli intelligence with no in depth view of impact of these activities on the larger and long-term impact on the region and what Iranians are thinking. The exercise at times sounds merely advocacy of Israel’s view rather than a broader outlook. Of course, the authors had no access to Iranian sources therefore half of the canvas remains blank.
The discussion needs to go beyond tactical intelligence victories. Israel and Iran are mirror image of each other where a nationalist-religious leadership with intense hatred of the other bordering on xenophobia is engaged in tit-for tat measures to undermine the safety and security of the adversary. Both sides passionately believe in Oscar Wilde’s statement that “in all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.” Bellicose statements from leaders of both countries portray the other side as evil incarnate that needs to be eliminated. This has created the toxic swamp in which leaders of both countries have been swimming for the last three decades. This is poisoning their own societies, and it is little wonder that there are no sane voices on either side. Iran is an authoritarian regime with no room for dissent, but Israel is an open society where one expects a more robust discussion on national security issues.
It was in 1996 when senior advisor to Israel’s Minister of Defense Major-General Amos Gilad, elevated Iran to number one threat facing Israel. He oversaw the 1996 National Threat Assessment which called for regime change in Iran. In the interim, Iraq under Saddam Hussain was elevated as number one threat to Israel. After removal of Saddam Hussain in 2003, Silvan Shlomo told the UN general assembly that “Iran has replaced Saddam Hussein as the world’s number one exporter of terror, hate and instability.”
Israel has genuine national security concerns regarding Iran but over the decades Israeli political leadership, especially Bibi Netanyahu designed the narrative to pursue his political goals. It had the unintended effect of promoting fear and insecurity among Israeli population despite unprecedented Israeli military and economic success and international integration.
There are benefits of normalization of Israel’s relations with Arab countries but in current format they are essentially transactional in nature. In the absence of some degree of people-to-people contact and understanding such benefits gained over decades of covert work can go up in smoke with sudden change of an autocratic government or a major violent incident. Examples of Iran, Turkey and more recently unravelling of Sudan and 07 October 2023 drastic events are case in point.
There are limits to making deals with autocratic leaders focusing only on defense, intelligence and kleptocratic business transactions. It will be not out of place for Israeli security establishment historians to go back and review Israel’s relationship with Shah Raza Shah Pahlavi of Iran for three decades (1950s-1970s). Foot soldiers of Iranian revolution were hanged by their thumbs in the notorious Evin prison by Iranian secret service Sazeman-e Ettela’at va Amniyat-e Keshvar (SAVAK). It was a power struggle among Iranians, but SAVAK had close relations with American and Israeli intelligence and this relationship was exaggerated by Iranian dissidents. These foot soldiers became leaders of revolutionary Iran and they never forgot who trained their torturers.
Israeli intelligence is treading the same beaten path and the authors confirm The Wall Street Journal report of July 2022 that Mossad and Israeli internal security agency Shin Bet trained Bahraini security services. In 2011, Bahrain’s majority Shia population held protests (100’000 Bahrainis out of 700’000 native population took to streets) that later became violent. This movement was finally controlled by Bahraini security forces with the help of Saudi forces. The direct involvement of Israeli intelligence agencies in domestic problem of Bahrain ensures that it has earned the hostility of a large segment of Bahrainis that has nothing to do with Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Target Tehran is essential reading for anyone interested in the region not only to understand Israeli perspective about Iran’s nuclear program but also the public relations campaign of how to present the Israeli case in the court of public opinion.
The book was published in September 2023 highlighting great successes of Israeli intelligence and merely three weeks later, the Hamas attacks of 07 October 2023 overturned the status quo applecart. It is a sobering moment for Israeli security establishment especially its intelligence agencies. We do not know to what extent Tehran helped the Hamas attack, but we are sure that several chapters of Israel-Iran conflict remain to be written. It is highly likely that both countries will encircle the adversary with ‘rings of fire.’ Isarael using Azerbaijan, Iraqi Kurdistan and Irani Balochistan border with Pakistan and Afghanistan while Iran using Hezbollah, Iraqi and Syrian militias, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Houthis of Yemen. If Israeli-Palestinian problem is not resolved, others will continue to fish in the troubled waters not in sympathy of Palestinians but to make Israeli life uncomfortable.
