Israel Military Intelligence representative in Washington Danny Citrinowicz at the US Air Force Base in Pensacola, Florida in 2018. (Courtesy)
Times of Israel: He led IDF intel gathering on Iran, was ignored and fears Israel is now paying price
Danny Citrinowicz, ex-head of Military Intelligence research, says politicians’ inability to adopt a nuanced approach led to ‘colossal’ policy failure, sped up Tehran’s nuke effort.
WASHINGTON — Several months after the 2013 election of former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, Aviv Kohavi submitted a position paper to then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he pointed to a significant, strategic shift underway in the Islamic Republic.
Kohavi, who currently serves as IDF chief of staff, was the head of the Military Intelligence unit at the time, and he relayed his assessment that Iran was becoming more moderate and willing to negotiate an agreement with world powers that would enshrine restrictions on its nuclear program.
Days after receiving the report, Netanyahu went to New York for his annual speech before the UN General Assembly. There, he appeared to dismiss Kohavi’s stance, declaring that “when it comes to Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the only difference between them is this: [Rouhani’s hardline predecessor Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad was a wolf in wolf’s clothing and Rouhani is a wolf in sheep’s clothing – a wolf who thinks he can pull the wool over the eyes of the international community.”
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WNU Editor: Former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani may have been interested and willing to negotiate an agreement with world powers that would enshrine restrictions on his country's nuclear program, but the country is ruled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and an entrenched theocracy, and their views on destroying Israel and not ending the country's nuclear program have not changed for as long as I can remember.