Israel is keeping the Biden administration out of the loop about its recent undercover activities in Iran, CNN said Tuesday in a report citing sources close to the matter.
“Israel appears to have escalated its targeted killings and other gray-zone operations inside Iran in recent months,” the report said, but added Jerusalem does not let Washington know in advance of carrying out operations.
“Biden administration officials, in turn, have taken a broadly hands-off approach to Israel’s operations, multiple current and former officials familiar with the discussions between the two countries told CNN, and have not directly asked Israel to knock it off,” it added.
Jerusalem “(doesn’t) seem to have a strategic plan right now to end the Iranian nuclear weapons development,” Jonathan Panikoff, head of the Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council and a former deputy national intelligence officer for the Near East at the National Intelligence Council told the network. “It’s hoping that through a series of tactical actions it can keep the pressure on and continuously delay Iranian progress.”
Last week, Breitbart reported the Israeli Air Force (IAF) was making dramatic developments aimed at preparing for an attack on Iran, including integrating a precision one-ton bomb in the belly of its F-35s, and updating the stealth fighter jets for long-haul flights direct to the Islamic Republic.
One possible indicator that Iran may be gearing up to retaliate over Israel’s actions is the fact that it’s ramped up its aerospace defense force alert level, one source was cited as saying.
Israel does not inform the U.S. know about its actions ahead of time, and for its part the Biden administration has refrained from interfering in Israel’s covert operations, to the extent that they are not even discussed in closed-door meetings, the report said citing past and current officials.
On Monday, the state news IRNA agency cited a judiciary official as three Mossad-linked Iranian agents arrested in April would be put on trial on accusations of working with Israel to kill Iranian nuclear scientists.
Recent weeks have seen a spate of mysterious killings in Iran, beginning with a deputy commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, which Iran blamed on Israel.
Aerospace scientist Ayoob Entezari also died under murky circumstances, with Iran first blaming Israel for poisoning him but then saying he died in an “industrial sabotage” operation in the Parchin military base near Tehran.
Two more scientists were also killed in May, as was Col. Ali Esmailzadeh, a colleague of Khodaei in the Quds Force’s Unit 840, a shadowy unit in charge of terrorist operations against Israeli and Western targets overseas.
State-run media said he had fallen off his balcony but Iran International, a London-based Iranian opposition website, charged that the IRGC had killed Esmailzadeh for espionage after he had allegedly provided intelligence leading to the Khodaei’s assassination.