Former Mossad director Yossi Cohen offered an unusually candid glimpse into Israel’s covert activities in Iran and ongoing diplomatic efforts with Saudi Arabia, in recordings from a closed-door conference obtained by the Haaretz daily.

In the audio, published by the newspaper on Thursday, Cohen states that Mossad operatives are active on Iranian soil. Iran is “not a place where we operate by proxy,” Cohen can be heard saying in the clip. “We go in to recruit and to bring intelligence.”

Cohen stepped down as head of the Mossad in 2021 after five years at the helm, though he reportedly continued to work behind the scenes, including in hostage talks following Hamas’s massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

In the recording, which Haaretz said was made in the past few days, Cohen referenced public claims by US President Donald Trump about the destruction of Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war in June: “Trump said ‘total dismantlement.’ I say, if not total dismantlement — then at least, and this is a lot — a very substantial halt.”

He also warned that Tehran still retains a nuclear capability, saying, “The Iranian regime has not given up its nuclear ambitions.”

The former........

© The Times of Israel