Backing revived Iran deal, Military Intelligence spars with IDF chief, Mossad

Senior defense officials are at odds over Israel’s stance on talks aimed at reviving the Iran nuclear deal, according to an unsourced report in Hebrew-language media.

Several Israeli generals, including the chief of the Military Intelligence Directorate, have begun to support a return to the 2015 accord between Iran and world powers, against Israel’s official policy, the Ynet news site says.

The report is published as world powers ready to reconvene talks in Vienna to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action after months of deadlock

The Israeli government has fiercely opposed a return to the 2015 deal, which it campaigned against at the time of its signing, viewing Iran as untrustworthy and unable to keep its commitments.

Successive Israeli governments have warned for decades that Iran seeks to build a nuclear weapon.

But senior military officials believe that even a bad agreement is preferable to no agreement at all, as it gives Israel time to prepare for extensive military responses against Iran, Ynet says.

The officials in support of a return to the deal listed by the news site are the head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva; Brig. Gen. Amit Sa’ar, who leads Military Intelligence’s Research Division; Brig. Gen. Oren Setter, the head of the IDF’s Strategic Division; and Brig. Gen. Tal Kelman, the military official in charge of Iran affairs.

But against them, and supporting Israel’s official stance against the deal, were seniors at the Mossad spy agency, and the chief of the IDF himself, Aviv Kohavi, the report says.