Mossad chief warns Russia could send Iran arms "that will endanger our existence"

Mossad Director David Barnea said on Sunday that Israel was concerned about Russia selling advanced weaponry to Iran that could pose an existential threat to Israel.

He also revealed that the spy agency and its allies in the international intelligence community foiled 27 Iranian attacks against Jews and Israelis abroad over the past year, marking a “significant” increase, and warned that Israel would exact “a different” price from Iran if Israelis or Jews were harmed, including by targeting the “decision-makers” behind the attacks and by hitting back “in the heart of Tehran,” The Times of Israel reports.

Speaking at an annual conference of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism Policy (ICT) at Reichman University in Herzliya, Barnea said Iran had intentions to provide Russia with short- and long-range missiles in addition to the UAVs that it sold to the Russian military for its invasion of Ukraine.

Amid the ongoing invasion, which began in February 2022, Russia has been using the Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone, after it received delivery of hundreds of units from Tehran, despite Western nations warning Iran against exporting the weapon.

Attempts by Iran to also provide Russia with missiles amid the war were foiled, Barnea said, without elaborating further. “I have a feeling that more deals will be foiled soon.”

“Our fear is that the Russians will transfer to the Iranians in return what they lack, advanced weapons that will certainly endanger our peace, and maybe even our existence here,” Barnea said.

The Mossad chief also said that Iran has stepped up its attempts to attack Israelis and Jews abroad, with the spy agency and its allies foiling 27 such attacks over the past year.

“The squads that were captured, the weapons that were seized together with them, all had clear targets,” he said, noting that the attempts occurred “all over the world, in Europe, Africa, the Far East and South America.”

“All this under the direction and guidance of Iran. We are witnessing a significant increase in attempts to harm Jews and Israelis around the world, and we are working even now at this very moment to follow Iranian and proxy squads to prevent them from killing Jews and Israelis around the world,” Barnea said.

Several Iranian plots have been uncovered over the past year. In July, Azeri security forces arrested a 23-year-old Afghan national on suspicion of planning an attack on Israel’s embassy in Baku. Israel pointed to Iran in the plot.

The month before, Cypriot intelligence services revealed they had foiled an Iranian plot against Jews and Israelis. In March, Greek police arrested two Pakistani nationals who were allegedly planning mass-casualty terrorist attacks against a Jewish restaurant and Chabad House in Athens.

In November of last year, Georgian security officials revealed they had foiled a recent attempt by the extraterritorial arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Quds Force, to kill a prominent Israeli-Georgian living in the capital Tbilisi.

The attempt followed other Iranian plots to harm Israelis in the region. In June of 2022, Türkiye and Israel foiled a plan to attack Israelis in Istanbul

Barnea said that “the time has come to exact a price from Iran in a different way.”

“Harming Israelis and Jews in any way — by proxy, by Iranians, or by Iranian weapons smuggled into Israel — will lead to activity against the Iranians who sent the terrorists and also against the decision-makers, from the ground operators to the commanders who approved the operation, and I mean that,” he said.

“These prices will be exacted with great precision in the depths of Iran, in the heart of Tehran,” Barnea warned.

He said the “Iranian regime no longer has room for denial and above all, it has no immunity.”

“Our message is loud and clear, and determined: Make no mistake, those of you who decided to dispatch the squads, be assured that we will get to you, and justice will be done for all to see. This has been proven in the past, and in the future, we will ramp it up to the next level,” the Mossad director said.

On Iran’s nuclear program and a potential agreement with world powers that would see sanctions on Iran eased, Barnea urged the international community to “be on high alert.”

“Iran’s known nuclear weapon ambitions, and its past attempts to implement them, require that the international community be on high alert, and demonstrate unflagging determination to foil these ambitions,” he said.

“The current dialogue between Iran and the West does not reflect genuine willingness on the part of Iran to curb its nuclear program. Rather, it demonstrates Iran’s cynical attempt to release money frozen as part of the international sanctions imposed on it, while continuing to develop and expand its nuclear capabilities,” Barnea said.

In an apparent reference to internal tensions in Israel over the government’s judicial overhaul, and fears of a constitutional crisis, he said: “We are a covert intelligence organization in the service of a Jewish democratic state that has operated since its inception according to a clear set of values, and will continue to do so.”