Did ex-Mossad chief hint at Israels hand in Iran's nuclear attacks?
File picture: In this July 3, 2016, file photo, Yossi Cohen, then the director of Israels Mossad intelligence agency, attends the funeral in Jerusalem of a rabbi killed by Palestinian gunmen | Photo Credit: AP  Key Highlights Yossi Cohen hinted that the Mossad blew up Irans underground centrifuge facility at Natanz Cohen confirmed that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh had been in Mossads sight for years He also talked about Israels effort to discourage Iranian scientists from participating in the nuclear program  Dubai: Yossi Cohen, who retired as chief of Israel's Mossad intelligence service earlier this month, hinted at the involvement of his country behind recent attacks targeting Iran's nuclear programme and a military scientist. In an interview on Israeli television broadcast last night, Cohen also talked about his interactions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his role in the normalisation of ties between Israel and the UAE. Cohen, while speaking to Israel's Channel 12 investigative program Uvda, hinted that the Mossad blew up Irans underground centrifuge facility at Natanz. He further shared a specific description of the operation on the night of January 31, 2018, in which Israels intelligence agency stole a vast archive of Iranian nuclear documents from the safes stored in a warehouse in Tehran. We understood they were secretly storing their nuclear secrets  things we didnt know I decided we needed to see what the Iranians are planning for us, said Cohen, adding: "and I told my people to prepare to bring this home as that would help see the wider picture of the Iranian programme. Cohen also confirmed that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was Irans senior-most nuclear scientist, had been in Mossads sight for years. Notably, Fakhrizadeh was assassinated near Tehran in December 2020. He was the head of the Research and Innovation Organisation of the Ministry of Defense. Cohen also warned other scientists in Iran's nuclear program that they could also become targets for assassination. If the scientist is willing to change career and will not hurt us anymore, then yes, sometimes we offer them" a way out, added Cohen, who was appointed by Netanyahu. When the interviewer Ilan Dayan asked Cohen where he would take them if they could travel to Natanz, the ex-Mossad chief said he would take the journalist to the underground cellar, where the centrifuges used to spin. It doesn't look like it used to look, he added. During the interview, Cohen did not bluntly claim responsibility for sabotage at Natanz but said more generally: We say very clearly (to Iran): We wont let you get nuclear weapons. What dont you understand?  The man who was responsible for these explosions, it becomes clear, made sure to supply to the Iranians the marble foundation on which the centrifuges are placed, Dayan said, adding: As they install this table within the Natanz facility, they have no idea that it already includes an enormous amount of explosives.  While talking about Fakhrizadeh, Cohen said he most troubled us from the point of view of the science, the knowledge, the scientists of the Iranian military nuclear program and hence he was a target for (intelligence) gathering for many years.  The interviewer then said: Yossi Cohen cannot take responsibility for this action, but his personal signature is on the entire operation.  Cohen further talked about Israels effort to discourage Iranian scientists from participating in the program. When Dayan asked that did any such scientist get the hint and become, say, a piano player, Cohen said: They see their friends.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had last month appointed David Barnea as the new head of the country's spy agency, the Mossad.