The Great Iranian Nuclear Heist

{Written by Micha Gefen and originally posted to the Israel Rising website}

In the annals of spy thrillers, the Israeli Mossad’s achievment, undertaken last year, and revealed last night, in which they were able to infiltrate the central storage area of the Iranian nuclear program, remove a half ton of 110,000 documents and discs, and whisk them back to Israel the same night undetected takes the cake.

Tweets abounded about the operation:

The mole hunt inside the Iranian regime and nuclear program is also going to be staggering https://t.co/C0ccNazZu9

— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) April 30, 2018

The mole hunt inside the Iranian regime and nuclear program is also going to be staggering https://t.co/C0ccNazZu9

— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) April 30, 2018

Spies steal documents all the time. But this was a huge cache. And usually, spy agencies keep quiet after the intelligence is lifted. Not so with the Israelis. They are broadcasting this – making it as much a psychological operation as a revelation about Iran’s nuclear mendacity.

— Jonathan Schanzer (@JSchanzer) April 30, 2018

Perhaps more important than the info itself is the sheer unbelievable nature of such an operation being pulled off by Israeli agents within Iran.  Iran is no kitten.  This is not a heist on a local 7-11.  Pulling this off requires high level assets embedded deep within the regime’s clandestine nuclear program. This operation essentially restores Israel’s otherworldliness when it comes to intelligence gathering.  Essentially no enemy is out of reach.

Furthermore, this will no doubt create fissures in the Iranian regime. These can be exploited by Israel and the US when the inevitable conflict arises.  Of course, Iran can learn from this operation that it may not be as easy as they thought to “destroy the Zionist entity,” but then again enemies like Iran don’t easily learn from their mistakes.