TEHRAN— “15 years of Benjamin Netanyahu.” If anyone wants to exemplify failure, they can refer to the previous sentence.

Nevertheless, the United States now has new cronies in Tel Aviv, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. 

During the Netanyahu administration, Israel committed some sabotage acts against Iran: from cyber-attacks to assassination of Iranian scientists and academicians. Israel launched assassinations in 2010. In 2 years, Mossad assassinated four Iranian scientists - Masoud Alimohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Darioush Rezaeinejad and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan. Another scientist, Fereydoon Abbasi, survived assassination attempt.

In November 2020, Israel assassinated Mossad’s long-time target, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, whom Netanyahu personally asked the IAEA and its allies to “remember that name” in 2018. 

Israel, under Netanyahu, carried out several attempts of sabotage, particularly at the Natanz nuclear site. 

In June 2010 Stuxnet, an advanced computer worm was discovered. It was believed that it had been developed jointly by the U.S. and Israel to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. Other computer viruses and malware, including Duqu and Flame, were reportedly related to Stuxnet. 

In addition, adversaries regularly sold faulty equipment to undermine Iran’s nuclear program.

Tasnim news agency published a report on January 2021, quoting Ronen Bergman’s book, "Rise and Kill First," saying that Meir Dagan ordered Mossad to assassinate General Tehrani Moqaddam on his last day as Mossad chief. Israel conducted an explosion at an Islamic Revolution Guard Corps base in November 2011. The blast martyred 17 IRGC personnel, including General Hassan Tehrani Moqaddam, a key figure in Iran's missile program.

In 2014, the IRGC downed an Israeli drone near the Natanz nuclear enrichment plant. 

On April 10, 2021 Iran began injecting uranium hexaflouride gas into advanced IR-6 and IR- 5 centrifuges at Natanz, but an act of sabotage occurred in the electricity distribution network the next day. In response to the sabotage, Iran quickly replaced damaged centrifuges with more advanced ones and began enriching uranium up to 63% within days from the sabotage act. 

In his statements to Israel's Channel 12 investigative program "Uvda" aired on June 11, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen did not outright claim responsibility for the strikes, but his specificity was the closest confirmation yet of Israeli involvement. 

The interviewer, journalist Ilan Dayan, also appeared to provide a comprehensive explanation of how Israel sneaked the bombs into the Natanz nuclear site's underground passageways, which Cohen did not contest.

When asked about sabotage in the Natanz facility, the interviewer asked Cohen where he'd take them if they could go there, and he said, "to the cellar," where "the centrifuges used to spin."

“It doesn’t look like it used to look,” he added.

Cohen's interview came amid U.S. disruption in the Vienna talks as Biden's administration is insisting on keeping Iran's nuclear science at its bare minimum, since they consider Iran's nuclear science as a gamechanger. 

During the Vienna talks, the U.S. demanded that Iran “destroy” the advanced centrifuges it had installed at the Fordow and Natanz facilities one year after the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA. 

The centrifuges, known as IR9, are 50 times more powerful at producing uranium than the ones covered by the JCPOA, according to Reuters.

Iran flatly rejected the U.S. demand just as Washington is refusing to lift all the sanctions imposed, re-imposed, or relabeled by the Trump administration against Iran. 

Iran has time and again shown that just like a phoenix, it rises from the flames. Israel assassinated scientists, committed acts of sabotage to slow down the development process in Iran. It is needless to say that all their plans went horribly wrong.

The Bennett-Lapid administration are seemingly trying a new approach on the Islamic Republic: Launching a “soft war” on Iran. Since their takeover, Israeli agents, and mainstream media that have close ties with the Tel Aviv regime, have tried to spread fake news about Iran. From rumors of sabotage at railway station to creating a havoc from a simple sound bomb. 

Iranian people, whose morale is at an all-time high, are well-aware that these outlets cannot stop the train of progress. They clearly showed this in the ballot boxes at the June 18 presidential elections. A turnout that contrary to their illusions, surprised Western media and left them in shock and awe. 

Israel’s tactics have grown more sophisticated, but, so has Iran’s defensive capabilities. 

Iranian media have progressed significantly over the past few years. Israel must know that it cannot create confusion among Iranian media, since they are all united to reveal the enemy’s plans and expose them. 

SA/PA