Posted on 04/04/2010 11:13:56 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The reported defection of an Iranian scientist to the United States has renewed speculation about a CIA plot to sabotage Iran's nuclear program through covert action. But it remains unclear whether Shahram Amiri, the young physics researcher who reportedly joined forces with the US spy agency, represents an intelligence coup for Washington or a minor setback for Tehran, former CIA officers said.
ABC television reported that Amiri, who went missing without explanation in Saudi Arabia last year, had defected and resettled in the United States in cooperation with the Central Intelligence Agency.
Amiri, in his thirties, worked at Tehran's Malek-Ashtar University of Technology, part of a network of research centers with close ties to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards and the country's weapons industry.
The scientist did not appear to play a senior role in the country's nuclear project, and his knowledge may have been confined to a single aspect of the program.
"It's really impossible to say how much of a window this kind of a defector could provide without knowing how much he was reading into aspects of the entire program, as opposed to chipping away at one part of the program," CIA veteran Paul Pillar told AFP.
(Excerpt) Read more at spacedaily.com ...
Ping
Why would they? They are led by Barack Obama.
Probably a better question would be, “Would the CIA be allowed to sabotage Iran’s nuclear project?”
The answer is obvious at this time, so...’nuff said.
For all we know, there is an Mossad/Israeli team keeping a close eye on their facilities waiting to turn on their targeting lasers.
/s
I am not familiar with that project. Can you fill me in with the details.
Meir Dagan is quoted in several articles as having stated that Iran will NOT have nuclear weapons before 2014, so I believe that Mossad operations are very successful. IF, indeed, there are joint CIA/Mossad black ops in Iran, we probably won't learn any facts about them for many years.
I'm certain that the CIA is active in Iran, I mean that is obvious -- however, it is only Mossad which can operate a huge undercover network in Iran -- so I'm presuming that the CIA is helping with things like tech support - as opposed to leading the efforts. How many Farsi speaking spies could the CIA infiltrate into Iran?
LOL
My main fear is that the CIA probably believest that a regime change in Iran will ensure the end of the Iranian nuclear weapons project, but I don't see how anyone could possibly believe this, much less an entire intel agency.
The C.I.A.?
Isn’t that the little agency that gets billions each year and couldn’t forsee the collapse of the Soviet Union?
Yeah, I have loads of confidence in that little group keeping us safe.
Reports Risen: "It's not clear who originally came up with the idea, but the plan [to give Tehran nuclear blueprints] was first approved by Clinton."
Beginning in February 2000, the CIA recruited a Russian scientist who had defected to the US years earlier. His mission: Take the nuclear blueprints to Vienna to sell them - or simply give them - to the Iranian representatives for the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Dubbed "Operation Merlin," the plan was supposed to steer Iranian physicists off track by incorporating design flaws in the blueprints that would render the information worthless.
But in what may turn out to be one of the greatest foreign policy blunders of all time, Operation Merlin backfired when the Russian scientist spotted the design flaws immediately - and even offered to help Iran fix the problems.
Risen said the Clinton-approved plan ended up handing Tehran "one of the greatest engineering secrets in the world, providing the solution to one of a handful of problems that separated nuclear powers such as the United States and Russia from rogue countries such as Iran that were desperate to join the nuclear club but had so far fallen short."
He noted that thanks to the bizarre operation, Iran could now "leapfrog one of the last remaining engineering hurdles blocking its path to a nuclear weapon."
If Mossad in involved It has a chance.
Add the C.I.A. and not so much confidence.
I’m sure there are many more active in Iran. Such as MI5, MI6, Chinese Intelligence (MSS). Not to mention the Russian Intelligence (SVR). And, a whole host of Arab intelligence agencies.
I guess that is what countries “intelligence services” do: (spy on each other, eliminate each other & sometimes even cooperate!) - especially in recent decades/yrs with ongoing political climate.
On the other hand Ministry of Intelligence and Security of Iran (MOIS) is also very active in a whole lot of countries, in the region & around the world.
What it bewildering though is that Iranian MOIS has rarely been mentioned on articles posted on FR, while most (Iranian regime too) prefer to focus on CIA and Mossad as culprits or heroes ....
Perhaps this is, knowingly or not, to either dismiss or underestimate the Very brutal and capable Iranian MOIS (in both foreign and domestic lands & affairs).
Israel Launches Covert War Against Iran
The Daily Telegraph
by Philip Sherwell, Telegraph.co.uk
http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/daily-news-article/israel-launches-covert-war-against-iran/
NEW YORK -- Israel has launched a covert war against Iran as an alternative to direct military strikes against Tehran's nuclear program, U.S. intelligence sources have revealed.
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" program is the planned assassination of top figures involved in Iran's atomic operations.
Despite fears in Israel and the U.S. that Iran is approaching the point of no return in its ability to build [an] atom bomb, Israeli officials are aware of the change in mood in Washington since President Barack Obama took office.
They privately acknowledge the new U.S. 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 program, 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 program, 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 program 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 program, 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 U.S. 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 program.
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 program 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 program 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....
Mole?
What it bewildering though is that Iranian MOIS has rarely been mentioned on articles posted on FR, while most (Iranian regime too) prefer to focus on CIA and Mossad as culprits or heroes ....
Perhaps this is, knowingly or not, to either dismiss or underestimate the Very brutal and capable Iranian MOIS (in both foreign and domestic lands & affairs)." <<<<<
VERY interesting!!
Thanks for sharing this, I hadn't even noticed this, and you are totally correct, it's almost as though it is taboo, utterly verboten, to mention the MOIS.
Yikes, maybe the global MSM is simply terrified of them??
>>>>”Yikes, maybe the global MSM is simply terrified of them??”
LOL.. I wouldn’t flatter them (MOIS) that much!
On a more serious note, I think, maybe, MSM and others see MOIS as an entity more “internal” to Iran & Iranians, which concentrates on “terminating” Iranian dissidents. But, the mandate & actions of MOIS are really much more Global than that.
And that as long as sabotage is successful, military intervention is unwarranted.
Hennie Pennie said in part, “Last month there were several articles I came across, none of which gave ANY details, but all of which very briefly mentioned that the Mossad & CIA are actively sabotaging the Iranian nuke project...”
#
LOL...I saw some of those too, but traced back the root source of those rumors to Iranian “news” sources and then this propaganda was spread around the internet as “news.”
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