Netanyahu admits he warned Trump about Mossad op to nab nuclear weapon files
The prime minister said he told Trump that there was significant danger, but that the potential gain made the operation worth the risk.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during his Iran news conference on April 30, 2018(photo credit: REUTERS)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed Tuesday that he warned US President Donald Trump about the planned Mossad operation to nab Iran’s secret nuclear weapons file before the operation was carried out.While it is clear that Trump knew beforehand about the content of Netanyahu’s April 2018 speech to the world about the operation, this was the first time that anyone has said that Trump knew about the operation itself before it was ordered.According to Netanyahu, when he told Trump about the operation, the US president asked, “is it dangerous?” The crowd of intelligence agents in attendance at the prime minister’s speech at an awards ceremony – including four men and two women who led the Mossad operation – laughed when they heard of this exchange with Trump. Netanyahu said he told Trump that there was significant danger, but that the potential gain made the operation worth the risk.On Monday, Mossad director Yossi Cohen gave a rare public speech where he said that the operation had altered the way the entire world viewed Iran and the nuclear issue, as the Mossad appropriated massive amounts of Iran’s secret nuclear weapons files in order to prove it had the intention of creating a nuclear bomb.Netanyahu said that Trump greatly appreciated the operation afterward and that he was sure it supported the US president in exiting the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and instituting his maximum pressure campaign against Tehran.
