Popular discontent also aiding Israeli sabotage

Submitted by Dave (United States), Jun 24, 2021 at 17:51

The Iranian revolution of 1979 and its subsequent political repression has not only alienated large numbers of citizens to turn away from Islam, but it has also proven to be an enormous boon for the Mossad.

Writing an opinion piece recently in the Arab News, columnist Baria Alamuddin ("How Iran has made itself a haven for Israeli spies") opines re her topic: "This Mossad network apparently has recruited significant numbers of competent Iranians willing to attack state installations — not a big surprise, given that Iran's brightest graduates have little to look forward to beyond unemployment, poverty and theological repression." She then describes how Iran's paranoid leadership rather comically comes up with lame excuses and exaggerated stories of revenge. For example, after their most advanced centrifuges were severely damaged, the regime boasted that enrichment would go up to 60 percent. Sure.

This is not in any way to minimize the skill and stealth of Israel's storied intelligence services, but it sure helps when you're dealing with such a ham-handed and wildly unpopular regime as Iran's. When the Shah was in power, the CIA for years warned that his rule was too narrowly based (read "The Last Shah" by Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow on the Council On Foreign Relations), and it appears that this tradition of narrowly-based rule continues under the Mullahs, no doubt eventually leading to the next revolution. Maybe some day Iran will have a stable, broadly based government that actually respects human rights. Meanwhile, it rots from within.

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