Former Mossad chief calls Iran ‘rational,’ incurs ire of politicians

Government officials over the weekend denounced former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, who told American television audiences in an interview to be aired Sunday night that the Iranian regime is rational.

Speaking to CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Dagan said that perhaps the leadership of the Islamic Republic is not rational in the way we understand the concept, but they are rational nonetheless.

Excerpts of the interview, as well as the transcript, have already been released. “The Iranian regime is maybe not exactly rational, based on what I call Western thinking, but no doubt they are considering all the implications of their actions,” Dagan told CBS. “I think the Iranians at this point in time are ... very careful on the (nuclear) project.”

The former Israeli intelligence chief - who took over the Mossad in 2002 and retired in early 2011 - said if a military strike was necessary he would “prefer” the U.S. to carry it out rather than Israel.

Dagan has publicly voiced his opposition to an Israeli attack on Iran on several occasions. Among the alternative actions he has suggested is supporting Iranian opposition groups working for regime change.

“An attack on Iran before you are exploring all other approaches is not the right way how to do it,” Dagan said, according to a transcript of the “60 Minutes” program that airs on Sunday.

Dagan’s interview came on the heels of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s summit with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington last week, during which Netanyahu told the local media, “We won’t accept a situation where Iran has nuclear weapons, because we face an existential threat” and that a strike on Iran “is not a matter of days or weeks, but it’s also not a matter of years.”

Netanyahu’s former security adviser, Uzi Arad, told Army Radio Friday he believed Netanyahu’s timetable narrowed down the options for a military strike: “What’s left? A matter of months.”

Dagan told CBS he believed there was “more time” to try other options of engagement with Iran, instead of military action. “It’s our duty to help anyone who likes to present an open opposition against their regime in Iran,” he said.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not issue an official reaction to Dagan’s statement, but a senior official said on Saturday, “There is no doubt that Dagan’s words are harmful. He publicly says things that are the opposite of what the prime minister and other Forum of Eight senior ministers say in a continuation of his ongoing irresponsible claims that we have heard from him in the past.”

Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) harshly rebuked Dagan, saying, “His political aspirations are causing him to say things that damage the state of Israel. Even if Dagan, for some strange reason, views the Iranian regime as rational, as long as Israel’s security policy is to convince the world to take any action necessary to stop Iran’s nuclear program, his claims undermine the efforts of our leaders and call into questions his own rationality.”

Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe (Bogey) Ya’alon (Likud) did respond to Dagan’s words, saying, “The U.S.’s red line for Iran is when Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei decides to construct a nuclear bomb. I am not sure we will know the day he decides to do that because their program is very secretive. We have had bitter experiences over trying to interpret the facts in the past. We don’t have any time to debate whether or not Khamenei has made that decision yet. Perhaps the red line has already been crossed-”

Ya’alon added, “No one disagrees with military action being a last resort. We must exhaust every other option before opting for a military strike. We are disappointed that the question of the price of oil has become central and is preventing more effective sanctions from being imposed on Iran. Those who wish to stop Iran’s nuclear military progress must get its leadership to understand they have to choose between the bomb or survival.”