First up: the inside story of a daring raid by Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, in Tehran. Part bank heist, part “Mission Impossible,” the intel seized was key to @realDonaldTrump’s decision to pull out of the #Iran nuclear deal.
When @realDonaldTrump withdrew from the #Iran deal, he cited the Israeli docs as proof that the Iranian promise to abandon nuclear weapons was “a lie.” Just days before, Israeli PM @netanyahu had revealed the intel to the world, with the words “Iran lied.”
Leading Mossad expert @ronenbergman says Tehran is “the hardest place for Mossad to act.” He estimates #Israel has “many dozens” of local dissidents working as operatives inside Iran.
US intelligence agencies believe #Iran’s nuclear weapons program was shut down in 2003. But the regime still had thousands of old documents, stored in a Tehran warehouse. @ronenbergman says the Mossad learned about the trove in 2016 — and began hatching a plan to steal it.
Israeli agents broke into the warehouse & stole the documents in January. @ronenbergman says the site was unguarded at the time. How the agents got them out of #Iran and into #Israel remains a mystery.
With the docs in #Israel, officials briefed their US intelligence counterparts & the White House. Then last month @netanyahu surprised the world with his presentation, in which he urged @realDonaldTrump to ditch the deal. Days later, the president obliged. nbcnews.com/politics/donal…
Experts say @netanyahu’s PowerPoint was more political theater than actionable intel. “This was known, documented information by the US intel community," former State Dept. official YJ Fischer told us. That Trump cited it to withdraw is "not just questionable, it’s reckless."
.@netanyahu “has the upper hand”, says @ronenbergman. “Now he’s winning. He has convinced the American president…to step away from the deal and completely destroy Obama’s legacy.” #OnAssignment
Just after the President announced his withdrawal from the deal, Iran & Israel began attacking each other. Former State Dept official YJ Fischer worries the Israeli PM will try to drag the US into a war. “War is already in motion,” says @ronenbergman. #OnAssignment
