Aimed at Iranian Head Allegedly Used Mossad Spies and Violent Attacks

Israel on Iran Nuclear Deal and Weaponization Program: Is this the end of the Proxy War?

Why does the Israel-Iran conflict appear to have intensified? The perceived escalation occurs as Israel has attempted to allegedly aggressively prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Prime Minister David Ben Gurion founded the State of Israel. In late May, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett publicly announced the end of “Iranian immunity.” [i]

Bennett stated in 2018 that he would implement an “Octopus Doctrine.” Using this doctrine, Israel would “strike directly at the head of the octopus – the Iranian regime itself.” Bennett’s approach was presented during a briefing with the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. [i]

Israeli Prime Minister Bennett attributes the shift in tactics as necessary to snuff out Iran’s attacks on Israel. Additionally, the shift is meant to subside any Iran nuclear talks. [ii]

The continued attacks against Israel have often been accomplished through regional proxies. These include the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Lebanese regional militia Hezbollah. [iii]

A proxy acts on behalf of another party. In this case, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Lebanese Hezbollah acted as proxies for Iran in numerous fights. This use of proxies is a tactic Bennett aimed to dismantle. [ii] [iii]

Middle East Tension: Israel and Iran Go Head to Head Amidst Bennet’s Implementation of the Octopus Doctrine

Speculation surrounding Bennett’s Octopus Doctrine suggested that the recent sequence of mysterious deaths may be attributed to the doctrine. Bennett asserted that Israel had consistently focused on fighting Iran’s messengers. [iv]

This resulted in rarely touching the hosts. Thus, Israel essentially was not dealing with the authentic distributor. This meant never facing the true sender of the message to “wipe Israelis off the map,” Iran. [iv]

Thus, in relation to the Israel-Iran conflict, Prime Minister Bennett vowed to no longer fight proxies. Instead, he intended to treat a rocket deployed from Lebanon as an Iranian rocket, focusing on the actual source. [iv]

Covert Operations by Israeli Security and Shin Bet Allegedly Affect Islamic Republic

Five mysterious deaths on Iranian soil led some to believe that the Octopus Doctrine was to blame. This is because Bennett further attempted to curtail Iran’s nuclear talks through the use of the doctrine. For example, on June 4th Iranian local media reported that two scientists, Ayoub Entezari and Kamran Aghamolaei, had died. [v]

Iranian officials speculate that Israel deliberately poisoned the two scientists’ food. Such action falls in line with the ‘shadow war’ at the core of the Israel-Iran conflict. In a shadow war, each side strikes the other quietly “to avoid a full-blown war.” [v]

Iran alleges Israel also made inaccurate remarks regarding the occupation and involvement of the scientists in Iran’s nuclear program. These claims supported the assertion that Israel stealthily participated in the shadow war. Such remarks potentially indicate a telltale sign of Israel’s likely role in the scientists’ deaths. [v]

Additionally, a colonel of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard was assassinated on May 22 by motorcycle shooters. The assassination continued the coverage of the conflict reported through Israel-Iran news sources. After approaching his car, two men on motorcycles killed Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodai in broad daylight. [vi]

Located close to the Iranian parliament, the site of the incident is described as an area generally “considered very safe.” Iranian President Ebrahim Raissi promised to “avenge” the colonel’s death. The president did not specify or confirm any specific suspects despite a website owned by Iran’s government blaming Israel for the slaying. [vi]

Another colonel of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard also died recently. The colonel fell from a roof one week after motorcycle gunmen assassinated Hassan Sayyad Khodai. The Israel-Iran conflict continues as an engineer also found themself a victim of an attack carried out by quadcopter drones. [vii]

The attack occurred in late May. The attack allegedly relates to the engineer’s role in Iranian military nuclear research. It is also speculated to be related to additional efforts by Israel to smolder further Iran nuclear talks. [vii]

Prime Minister Bennett’s June 7th statement proclaimed an end to Iran’s reign of terror. This assertion further suggests that the Jewish state may be responsible for the violent attacks keeping the flames of the Israel-Iran conflict ablaze. [vii]

Why Does Iran Military News Report That Iranian Leaders Discovered Mossad Agents?

To substantiate its claims against Israel, Iran alleges they possess concrete evidence against Israel. Iran allegedly has concrete evidence regarding Mossad spies tasked with various killings. [viii]

Iran reportedly held three suspected spies who were allegedly agents for Mossad. Mossad is “the overseas branch of Israel’s intelligence agency.” [viii]

Iran alleges an eight-month-long surveillance operation assisted in discovering the three individuals. The operation is stated to have been carried out by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. The Intelligence Ministry concluded that these three individuals had plans to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists. [viii]

Despite the United States disengagement from the region, Israel seemingly emerged stronger as the Israel-Iran conflict continued. As the tables appeared to favor Israel, a recent 92-0 vote dissolved the Knesset, otherwise known as the Israeli parliament. [ix] [xii]

The Israeli parliament formed Prime Minister Bennett’s coalition government. Following the exit of a number of coalition members, Prime Minister Bennett agreed to dissolve his coalition government. [ix] [xii]

As a result of the vote, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is set to take over as prime minister. The takeover comes despite Prime Minister Bennet being in leadership for merely a year during the Israel-Iran conflict. [x]

The next set of elections will be Israel’s fifth in three to four years. Such unrest is not a promising outlook for a compromising end to the Israel-Iran conflict. [x]

What does this mean for what is going on between Israel and Iran? Will the dissolution of the coalition government set Israel further back if it no longer implements Bennett’s Octopus Doctrine? Furthermore, will Benjamin Netanyahu return to power as Prime Minister as he has sworn to do? [xi]

References

[i] Nicole Jansezian, All Israel News Staff, What is Bennett’s ‘Octopus Doctrine’ and how does it inform Israel’s military approach to Iran? (Jun. 15, 2022)

[ii] Neville Teller, When will Israel, Iran’s proxy war ignite? (May 11, 2022)

[iii] Kali Robinson, What is Hezbollah, (May 25, 2022)

[iv] Nicole Jansezian, All Israel News Staff, What is Bennett’s ‘Octopus Doctrine’ and how does it inform Israel’s military approach to Iran? (Jun. 15, 2022)

[v] Farnaz Fassihi, Ronen Bergman, Iran Suspects Israel Killed Two Scientists With Poison, (Jun. 13, 2022)

[vi] Louis Imbert, Ghazal Golshiri, The shadow of Israel looms over the assassination of a senior officer in Iran, (May 24, 2022)

[vii] Louis Imbert, Israel-Iran: The shadow war intensifies, (Jun. 13, 2022)

[viii] Al-Monitor Staff, Iran claims it arrested Israeli spies plotting to kill nuclear scientists, (Jun. 21, 2022)

[ix] Hadas Gold, Israeli parliament votes to dissolve, triggering fifth election in four years, (Jun. 30, 2022)

[x] BBC News, Israel to hold fifth election in less than four years as PM Naftali Bennett steps down, (Jun. 30, 2022)

[xi] Patrick Kingsley, Isabel Kershner, Israel’s Government Collapses, Setting Up 5th Election in 3 Years, (Jun. 21, 2022)

[xii] The Knesset, Elections for the Knesset, (2022)