On the secret nuclear deal of Shah and Shimon Peres

Ehud Barack-the Israeli defense minister- has issued a statement criticizing Israel’s minister of economy. The story is all about the defense budget of Israel; which has been estimated as 46 billion dollars for the fiscal year of 2009. The minister of economy has proposed a 2 billion reduction of this budget; and its annexation to the education and health sector. But Barack says in absence of security, Israelis do not need education and health!

What Barack Says is worth noticing. Israel’s concerns on its security are more than ever. In justifying the threats on Israel’s existence, Barack has referred to Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas. As you probably know, the Israelis consider Iran, Hizbullah, Hamas and even Syria as a whole!

There also leaks from a report by Israel national security organization which point to the deep concerns of Israel security services.

Shmuel Rosner has published an article in Haaretz daily, saying that "Iran is a strategic threat for the US and an innate threat for Israel; so Israel and the US do not look on Iran with the same glasses".

The Israelis have also predicted the possibility of a new Auschwitz happening! The Israeli officials are now counting on the alliance with what they call "moderate Arab countries" against Iran. There was a time when Iran and Turkey were Israel allies in a region of hostile Arab countries blaming Israel for the occupation of Palestine and parts of Jordan, Syria and Egypt. But the Islamic revolution of Iran destroyed all the plans of Israel in the region. Let’s have a look on Iran during Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s reign. On that time, Israel had influence on Iran’s security service and army. Even the architecture of Iran’s security service buildings in Tehran and other cities were proposed by Mossad. The commercial and agricultural cooperation between Iran and Israel were only putting a mask on their real relationship.

In 1977-only two years before Islamic revolution of Iran- Shimon Peres had a secret week-long trip to Iran. In his autobiography- Battling for peace- Peres has not referred to this trip. He has described his time at defense ministry of Israel (1974-1977) without ever mentioning the important deal he concluded with Shah (1). According to the deal, Israel was supposed to supply Iran with surface to surface missiles equipped by nuclear warheads. What Iran did in return was giving Israel a billion dollar oil supply. Peres had another trip to Iran later on.

On December 1961,David Ben-Gurion stopped in Iran on his way to Burma. Five years later, Levi Eshkol-the then Israeli prime minister- came to Iran and met Hoveyda. In the aftermath of 1967 Israeli-Arab war; Iran cooperated with Israel in building pipelines to Mediterranean Sea. The pipeline was completed in December 1969. On May 1972, Golda Meir-the then Israeli prime minister- came to Iran upon the formal invitation of Shah. In the following years, some other Israeli officials like Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Yigal Allon, and Moshe Dayan had a trip to Iran.

All these trips were secretly done. Their especial host was the Iranian deputy prime minister and head of security service, Nematollah Nasiri. Why did Shah cooperate with Israel in such comprehensive terms? The reason was that he needed Israeli lobbies’ support in Washington. This policy was successful, in such a way that Uri Lubrani was managing the Israeli lobbies of Washington in Shah’s advantage. Lubrani was Israeli ambassador to Iran; but his post was not formal. He was more in touch with Shah than with Iran’s foreign ministry. Iran’s relationship with Israel was much more than the foreign ministries. Despite this fact, Khalatbari-the then foreign minister of Iran- also made a trip to Israel in 1977.

It was universally known that the relationship between Israel and Shah was much more than a strategic relation. In June 1978, Uri Lubrani –who had a thorough knowledge of Iranian nation and Shah’s administration- sent a letter to Menachem Begin, saying that Shah’s reign is coming to an end.  He did not stay in Iran afterwards and one of the managers of Israel interior security officials replaced him. Just in time of Lubrani’s letter to Begin, the then Israeli defense minister-Ariel Sharon- proposed Israel’s military intervention in Iran to stop Shah’s decline!

Islamic revolution of Iran changed all these interactions. The documents of Shah and Israel relations clearly show the importance of the Islamic revolution under Imam Khomeini’s leadership. Before the revolution, Iranian administration’s approach was managed by Israel; but nowadays, Israel analyses its future existence according to the moves that Iran make. I think now is the time for the publication of documents on Shah and Israel negotiations. These documents show the willingness of Israel for equipping Iran with nuclear warheads. So when Shah was the ruler, Israel and the US could equip Iran with nuclear weapons, but now they do not even tolerate Iran enjoying nuclear sciences!

 

(1)Shimon Peres, Battling for Peace, a memoir. Random house, New York,1995.( P:139-152)