Eye Spy - May 2018

50 EYE SPY INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE 115 2018

Iran to come clean and cooperate with

international inspections into its past weapons

work in order to convince the world it is

serious about never again pursuing nuclear

weapons.”

INTELLIGENCE TALK

Secretary of State and former CIA Director

Mike Pompeo called Iran “the greatest

sponsor of terrorism in the world,” during a

joint press conference with Saudi Foreign

Minister Adel al-Jubeir in Riyadh, in a further

signal the United States intends to pull out of

the international Iran nuclear deal. “We are

determined to make sure it never possesses a

nuclear weapon,” Pompeo said of Iran during

his first visit to the Middle East since being

sworn in as Secretary of State. “The Iran deal

in its current form does not provide that

assurance... we will continue to work with our

European allies to fix that deal. But if a deal

cannot be reached, the [US] President has

said that he will leave that deal. We remain

deeply concerned about Iran’s dangerous

escalation of threats to Israel and the region,

and Iran’s ambition to dominate the Middle

East remains.”

US President Donald Trump will now decide

whether to continue waiving sanctions on Iran

that were lifted under the Iran agreement,

formally known as the Joint Comprehensive

Plan of Action. Under

US law, the President

has to recertify the

deal every few

months.

As par t of the 2015

pact - agreed by

Tr ump’s predecessor

Barack Obama, some

European countries

and Russia and China

• Iran must reduce its
  uranium stockpile in
  return for international
  sanctions being lifted.

WIDER FOCUS

The US Secretary of State also outlined what

he called the President’s comprehensive

strategy for Iran, which includes efforts to

counter a broad array of non-nuclear threats,

including Iran’s conventional missile systems,

suppor t for Hezbollah, importation of

thousands of proxy fighters into Syria, and

assistance to Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“Iran has only behaved worse since the deal

was approved,” said Pompeo, accusing

Tehran of carrying out cyberhacking cam-

paigns and suppor ting what he described as

“Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s murder-

ous regime.” Pompeo said the United States

would continue to assist its ally Saudi Arabia

with its defence needs. “We look forward to

working closely with strong allies in counter-

ing these threats and rolling back the full range

of Iranian malign influence,” Pompeo said. He

also urged unity between the Gulf States, after

Saudi Arabia - who along with Bahrain, Egypt

and the United Arab Emirates, severed ties

with neighbouring Qatar.

ANALYSIS AND OVERVIEW

Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said:

“What Israel has in its possession just

confirms what US Intelligence found more

than a decade ago. Late in 2007, we pub-

lished a controversial National Intelligence

Estimate (NIE) that said Iran had stopped its

weaponisation programme, it was doing other

stuff - the centrifuges, the missiles, and so

on.” Hayden explained the US had evidence

that Iran had stopped that work in 2003.

UNSUPPORTIVE

“This wasn’t absence

of evidence, this was

evidence of absence -

that they were no

longer working on the

weapons

programme,” Hayden

said. And he recalled

that US Intelligence

had called Iran’s

denials that it was working on a weapons

programme ‘a lie’, adding: “We always said

that although they had stopped this core

activity, they kept some other what we called

‘dual-use’ things under way.”

The intelligence community concluded at the

time that Iran was “at least keeping the option

open” of resuming the construction of a

specific weapon.

What Netanyahu has, Hayden believes, is

documentation that supports and concludes

the story that the US and the Israelis have long

told. “Iran is further away from a weapon with

this deal than they would be without it,”

Hayden said. “And we know more about the

Iranian nuclear programme with this deal than

we would know without it.” Hayden is

concerned of the implications if the United

States “walks away from the current deal.”

EU diplomatic head Federica Mogherini said

Netanyahu’s allegations of a secret Iranian

atomic weapons programme do “not put into

question” Tehran’s compliance with the 2015

Iran nuclear deal. Her viewpoint seemed to be

shared by Pompeo just a few weeks ago

during his confirmation hearing on 12 April.

Speaking about Iran’s nuclear intent, Pompeo

© PRESS OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL

Mike Pompeo

and Benjamin

Netanyahu

US and Israeli officials discuss the Iran nuclear deal

29 April. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel

al-Jubeir and Mike Pompeo

Michael Hayden

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