Israel And Iran Scramble In The Shadows

December 16, 2008: Israeli intelligence organization Mossad has failed in its campaign to sabotage Iran's nuclear weapons program. So far. Six years ago, Mossad said it would stop the Iranian efforts to build nukes. Mossad admitted that it had devoted a substantial portion of its resources to that effort since then. This included establishing companies that appeared to be willing to supply Iran with essential equipment they needed. This had some success in slipping specially modified gear into Iranian nuclear weapons facilities.

For example, Iran recently revealed that an Israeli spy they recently executed had allowed Israeli technicians to install special electronic equipment in computer equipment the spy bought for the Iranian government. The deceased spy, Ali Ashtari, procured legal, and illegal (barred by one of the many export sanctions directed at Iran) computer equipment for the Iranian government. But the Israelis paid more, and that enabled the Israelis to, in effect, install special components that enabled them to monitor what the Iranians were doing with some of the equipment that Ashtari obtained. Apparently, Ashtari did not know all the details of just what the Israelis installed in the imported computers and other electronic equipment. The Israeli "additions" apparently enabled Iranian weapons and technology developments to be monitored. The Iranians did not comment on what they are doing to get rid of all the Israeli modified gear they are using.

This effort was apparently one of the few successes in the Mossad effort. But Iran has, in the meantime, made steady progress in developing nuclear weapons. Mossad is not, obviously, discussing all of its efforts, and there may be other operations that have infiltrated the Iranian nuclear program, but have not yet bore fruit. So the Mossad operation may still succeed.

But in the meantime, Mossad has apparently had another failure. Israel has been trying to prevent Russia from delivering S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran. The S-300is similar to the U.S. Patriot system, which makes an Israeli effort to bomb Iranian facilities much more dangerous, and potentially impossible. Israel has apparently delayed Russian efforts to sell the S-300 to Iran, but recent reports indicate the deal is on again. It may be off again in another few weeks.

It's just another challenge for Mossad, in a battle that won't be over until Iran detonates its first nuke, and maybe not even then (building a reliable missile warhead or air-dropped bomb is quite an engineering feat.)