Ex-Mossad head says agency ‘works inside Iran itself,’ Riyadh still open to peace

Former Mossad head Yossi Cohen says the spy agency “works inside Iran itself,” and says Saudi Arabia is open to a peace deal with Israel, in remarks to a private conference, recordings of which were obtained by the Haaretz newspaper.

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.”

Alluding to the Israeli and American attacks on Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war in June, the former spy chief says, “Trump said ‘total obliteration.’ I say, if not total obliteration — then at least, and this is a lot — a very significant stop.”

Cohen says he estimates Iran still has a stockpile of enriched uranium, though, and that “the Iranian regime has not given up on its nuclear ambitions.”

The spy chief also expresses a belief that for Saudi Arabia, “a peace deal with Israel is possible, including some way of skipping over the Palestinian issue.”