Mossad, British secret services and the CIA extracted an Iranian nuclear scientist out of Tehran and provided him with a safe haven in the US, the Daily Mail reported on Sunday.
The Iranian scientist is thought to have been smuggled into the UK on an inflatable boat alongside other Iranian migrants who crossed over to Lydd at the beginning of 2019.
The plan is said to have been drawn up in October when the Mossad helped the 47-year-old technician escape to Turkey, and from that location he joined the flux of Iranian immigrants attempting to reach the UK. The BBC reported that the influx of Iranian migrants into the UK has increased recently due to a decision by the Serbian government to accept Iranian tourists without asking for a visa. This was meant to increase tourism and trade between the Islamic Republic and Serbia but also enabled some Iranians to escape into Europe.
"It was determined infiltrating him into a group of fellow migrants preparing to cross the Channel by boat offered one solution," a British secret service official told The Daily Mail.
Once in the UK, the man was questioned about the current status of the Iranian nuclear program and flown to the US. The scientist reportedly also helped with the 2012 assassination of another Iranian nuclear scientist, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan. The Mossad has long been suspected of standing behind the assassination.
Israel is said to have launched a secret operation to dissuade scientists from taking part in the Iranian nuclear program by eliminating those it deemed valuable. Israel has never confirmed or denied such claims.