Iranians gathered on a hill on the outskirts of Tehran watch a cloud of smoke from airstrikes rise into the city’s sky. “We must continue to weaken the Iranian regime until the people of Iran rise up and topple the regime,” says Dani Yatom. [Arash Khamooshi / The New York Times]
“There is no doubt the Iranians will use all the means to retaliate. And it includes also terror attacks in Europe.” This prediction was made by former Mossad director Danny Yatom in an interview with Kathimerini estimating that the Iranian regime’s retaliation will include terrorist attacks.
According to the retired general, “the current situation in Israel is that the Iranians are firing their missiles in small numbers. It is probably not easy for them to fire a large number of missiles. On the one hand, it disturbs us because we have to go to the shelter many times. On the other hand, it is less dangerous because the number of missiles is smaller.”
“Why did Israel choose to act now,” we ask. The experienced intelligence officer describes the calculations that preceded the strike: “The Iranians took advantage of the negotiations with the Americans to buy time. The Americans concluded, after two or three meetings, that the Iranians were not prepared to make concessions. So, it was President Trump’s decision, not Israel’s. President Trump decided to give the green light, and we went to attack as well.”
“Greece is a target because it is well known to the Iranians that Israel and Greece are friends,” Yatom says.
According to a New York Times article, the CIA had been monitoring Ali Khamenei for months, in close cooperation with Mossad. “You can see for yourselves that our security forces, our secret services, have penetrated deeply into various parts of the army, the secret services, and the Revolutionary Guard,” notes the retired general.
“We know a lot about them. From the first half-minute of the attack, we managed to neutralize about 40 high-ranking officials, including Khamenei. Since 1979, when the ayatollahs took power, led by Khomeini, Iran has been an enemy of Israel, and we have been organizing ever since.”
“Was it the right time to neutralize Khamenei?” we ask. “Yes, it was. We still need to do something that will affect the possibility of the ayatollahs continuing to control Iran, even though at least 50% of Iranians are completely opposed to their regime. And to do that, we need to create a ‘shock’ among the Iranian people, especially among high-ranking officials, and not just in the military.”
“Therefore,” he continues, “we concluded that in order to weaken the Iranian regime so that it would eventually change, we had to show that no one is immune and that anyone who tries to attack and destroy Israel will be destroyed in advance. I am not saying that (the overthrow) will happen now, but we must continue to weaken the Iranian regime until the people of Iran rise up and topple the regime.”
“Will Israel continue to target the leaders of the Iranian regime?” we extend the question. “Yes,” he replies bluntly. “As long as the war continues, we will do so, and I do not know how long it will continue. President Trump said it would last four weeks at most. I do not know if that will be the case, but it may take a few more months for the situation to mature enough for the regime to be toppled.”
“At the end of the day,” he explains, “the Americans will need to sit down with the Iranians and see if they are now ready to make more concessions. We hope that the Iranians will now be more elastic in the way they present their positions.”
“Is the target Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missile program, or the regime?” we ask. “We are pursuing a number of objectives. The first is the regime. The second is the nuclear program. We cannot afford Iran to enrich uranium on its territory. And the third is its missiles, which we see how dangerous they are,” he emphasizes, adding:
“We must continue our attacks on their missile facilities, including missile manufacturing plants. And once an agreement is reached between the Americans and the Iranians, missiles should be included in that agreement so that there are limits on their range, say, no more than 200-300 kilometers. The fourth goal is to encourage the Iranian people to take to the streets. This is what we will do until there is a ceasefire,” he stresses.
Yatom openly expresses his concern about Tehran’s decision to strike the British base in Cyprus, a target so far from the main front, and especially to target Gulf countries that until recently had maintained a neutral stance.
“The big mistake the Iranians made was to fire missiles with almost no order at Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and, in effect, provoke these countries to come out publicly and say they would retaliate. I do not know, and I do not understand the Iranians’ logic and why they are attacking these countries. With these attacks, they have brought them to be part of the camp that can fight against Iran.”
Yatom warns that the risk of terrorist attacks in the near future is very real. “There is no doubt that the Iranians will use every means at their disposal to carry out what they call ‘retaliation,’” he stresses. “This includes, among other things, terrorist attacks on European soil. The most vulnerable targets are primarily Israeli and Jewish targets, followed by American and then other Western targets.”
“Is Greece in the picture?” we ask. “Greece is a target because it is well known to the Iranians that Israel and Greece are friends.”