Israel’s proposal to arm Iran with atomic weapons

“Thirty Years of Silent Endeavors” an addendum of Hamshahri newspaper was published on October 12 to mark the 30^th anniversary of the establishment of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry.

What comes below is the exact translation of a document which appeared in the online edition of the addendum focusing on the depth of Iran-Israel ties in the 1970s:

The Israeli government has defended efforts to equip Iran with nuclear weapons, says one of the documents held by SAVAK [the Organization of Intelligence and National Security, Iran’s secret police prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution]. According to this document which dates back to the time when Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was in office (1974-77), Uri Lubrani, the then Israeli ambassador to Iran, had called for atomic cooperation between his respective government and Iran, and for arming Iran with atomic weapons.

The following is the report SAVAK complied:

“This is to respectfully notify Your Majesty that following talks with Israeli Prime Minister Mr. Yitzhak Rabin, his letter on the Egyptian president’s offer for holding separate talks with Israel was submitted to Your Majesty. And your Royal orders were as follows:

“As it is said earlier, Egypt has agreed to enter talks through the US or the United Nations on the restitution of part of the Sinai [Peninsula] without taking into account the viewpoints of Syria and those of other Arab states. The Shah has underlined again that we need to seize this opportunity not to let the Soviet Union get reengaged in Egypt.”

Head of the Israeli mission in Iran, Mr. Lubrani, was said (in a meeting with the representative of Israel’s intelligence service in attendance) to communicate [Shah’s] order to his boss, the Israeli premier. These are what Mr. Lubrani said in response. (Mr. Lubrani said his words come after his private talks with the Israeli premier):

1. The Israeli government is ready to enter talks with Egypt under any circumstances.

2. Any formula which is put forward to settle the Palestinian question would, if materialized, put an end to the reign of King Hussein [of Jordan]. In principle, the creation of a Palestinian state would be politically and economically unachievable without violating the Jordanian sovereignty.

3. Currently, King Hussein and his supporters make up a small minority in Jordan. It is unclear what would become of him if the Palestinian state is formed.

4. All measures King Hussein is to take will be coordinated beforehand through his constant contact with us.

5. Since we have come to realize that Iran’s Shah will never overlook the interests of King Hussein, I should say that Iran’s support for the formation of the Palestinian state would translate into the removal of King Hussein from power.

6. As you know, the majority of the Palestinian people are now living in Israel’s territories, so they are under our control. Israel hosts more Palestinians than any other Arab country.

7. What Israel has done in the West Bank of the Jordan River is to help Hussein’s kingdom survive. Israel is very much interested in seeing King Hussein’s regime continue to reign.

8. In my view, cooperation between Iran and Israel on the economic front could help fulfill what should be done in agricultural, petrochemical, financial and arms-related areas.

9. Israel’s economic delegation could visit Iran after a date is fixed for their trip and after the Iranian team is named by General [Nematollah] Nassiri [the director of SAVAK] (who’s been tasked with the job through a Royal order).

10. I suggest a coordinator who is in charge of the administrative affairs and appointed by SAVAK be included in the board of directors of the two countries’ mutual economic cooperation [committee] so that he could coordinate with SAVAK which has been charged with the implementation of this plan.

11. Areas of cooperation between the two countries should be precisely determined by their economic delegations.

12. If we’ve provided you with a detailed description of a certain plane which is manufactured in Israel, it doesn’t mean we are going to sell it to Iran. It means if you want this plane to meet your needs, we can cooperate with you to produce it.

13. We are well aware that you cannot buy planes, missiles and tanks from Israel on political grounds, but we will give you what you need through our advanced technology if you seek to produce these weapons inside Iran. At the moment, there are some Jews living in Israel who have come to Israel with a background in NASA and have been employed by the government.

14. We are at the ready to have atomic cooperation with Iran on all fronts. A while ago, the Iranian prime minister summoned me (Mr. Lubrani), calling for atomic cooperation [with Israel]. After I got my respective government’s approval, I met Dr. Etemad who had been appointed by the Iranian prime minister and promised to do what I could to help, but nothing else came about. You are exclusively dependent on Western countries for building nuclear power plants and supplying uranium fuel for them. We have practical experiences in this regard and can share them with you.

15. The students Iran sends to Europe and the US to study nuclear physics return to the country as ultra-leftist elements after they finish their studies. However, if Iran sends its students to Israel, we promise to take extra care not to let these students be exposed to political deviations.

16. We can produce atomic weapons for you if Iran wants us to. To separate uranium 235 from 238 to be used for making atomic weapons is a very easy task in Israel, after all, when the separation is complete developing atomic weapons is not very difficult. (1)

At the end, I would like to respectfully state that based on incoming reports from Iran-based coordinator of the Israeli intelligence service, General Zvi Zamir, the former Mossad chief has been named by the Israeli prime minister to take charge of economic and military cooperation with Iran.

His majesty reviewed the items and stated, “I just talked about the question of Egypt. The separation in matter should be done ahead of a trip by Brozhenit to Cairo.

 

The Organization of Intelligence and National Security (2)

Cited in Israel’s Periphery Strategy

By Mohammad Taghi Taghipour, Political Studies and Research Institute

 

Footnotes:

1. As Western sources have put it, it was back in spring 1977 when Shimon Peres, the then Israeli defense minister, inked the so-called Project Flower, an agreement on Iran’s cooperation with Israel’s atomic ballistic missile program. As payment, Iran was to give Israel $1 billion in crude oil and make an airport and launching pad available for Israel’s long-range missile test and a place for assembling the missile. The Shah of Iran hoped Iran could use Israel’s experience in the development of weapons in return for what was given to Israel. When Iran’s revolution brought Project Flower to a halt and the other elements which had made [Yaghub] Nimroudi a millionaire, he complained that he had lost $6 million: Cockborn, p.171

2. SAVAK document, numberless and dateless. The document dates back to the period when Yitzhak Rabin was the Israeli prime minister (July1974-July 1977).