Book Review: Target Tehran: How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination – and Secret Diplomacy – to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East

The world of espionage has captured the attention of people all around the world. Whether it be the debonair James Bond, the agile Jack Ryan or the quick wit of Alec Leamas, intelligence has been sold to people through books, films and TV series. The covert nature of the job, the disguises used, and the highly dangerous nature of the work has been well consumed in popular imaginations. However, there exists a world where espionage and intelligence gathering are not scripted and performed in front of a camera but actually done with real consequences. People who work for their country, who are masters of deception, deal with highly dangerous life-threatening situations that have broader implications for the world. They help topple governments, they assassinate leaders who make things hard for them and have aliases they use to protect their families and often a times even die in service to their nation. ‘Tehran Targets: How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination and Secret Diplomacy to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East’ written by Jeremy Bob and Ilan Evyatar, two Israeli journalists, falls nothing short of reading like a spy novel. Exploring the intricate web of Israel’s intelligence strategies and their regional implications, the book explores how diplomacy, espionage and intelligence can be used as national security tool to effect change.

The middle east is arguable one of the most volatile geopolitical theatres in contemporary times. The bi-lateral ties between member states are in taters and alliances and deals crumble overnight. Some actors are belligerent and often everyone’s national interest calculus is seen as a threat for the other. The region with its cultural heritage, is also foreshadowed with religious wars and differences that seem unsolvable even with modern tools of arbitration. Iran and Israel share a contested past whose repercussions are still felt in the region. Israel’s deep suspicion of Iran’s nuclear capacities and its worry over the fact that Iran could be lying to the world resulted in one of the largest and most covert intelligence operations carried out by Mossad on foreign soil. The book is a gripping account of how diplomacy and intelligence guided Israel’s action against Iran nuclear capacities and later impacted regional dynamics in the Middle East.

The themes that run through the book can be clubbed into groups: the use of diplomacy and its impact on regional dynamics; the changing nature of espionage to include cyberwarfare and its consequences and how US-Israel relations have real time implications for the Middle East. While these themes play out across the ten chapters in the book, the details often appear to be one-sided and lacking the weight of holistic analysis including a complete disregard of non-Arab yet powerful actors in the region like Turkey, Russia or even China. The book while a compelling, fast paced read of fascinating information on Mossad and its greatness, falls a little short of offering a balanced view of the region.

Target Tehran offers its readers a detailed exploration of the intelligence operations carried out by the Mossad in the Middle East particularly against Iran and its nuclear capacities. One of the intended effects of the intelligence missions carried out was to chart a diplomatic path for Israel that helps it influence the regional dynamics with the Arab states. The nexus of this regional banding is a shared concern regarding Iran’s belligerence and how its aggression can be counterbalanced in an effective way. The Abraham Accords which were a direct product of one of the largest ops carried out by the Mossad that stole Iranian files on its nuclear capacities, was seen as a historic mission that allowed Israel to become a regional stabiliser.

On the basis of the intelligence it had gather, Israel leveraged covet meeting with countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE to bring to attention Iran’s lies. The common concerns shared by these nations allowed them to enter into security alliances that was used to counter Iran and its destabilising moves. Israel implemented new security frameworks in the region and shifted alliances to contain Iranian action. The role of the United States in the matter especially given that it preferred a diplomatic style of affairs to the more hardline and militaristic approach adopted by Israel was highlighted indicating leniency showed to the Iranian side. The authors did not seem too happy with the Unites States in this regard, despite the fact that the CIA and Mossad were deeply embroiled in most missions and share a deep relationship.

While it is hard to argue with such a straightforward analysis, the book would have benefited from a more critical inquiry that firstly spoke on the sustainability of such alliances and secondly, addressed the retaliations and counter alliances that emerged after. One of the direct impacts of the Arab states and Israel banding together was Iran’s closer association with the Hezbollah and the Houthis – the nature of which can be seen in today’s volatility in the Middle East.

The main crux of Target Tehran lies in the in-depth description it offers of the high-tech, high-end and dangerous intelligence mission that the Mossad carried out to disrupt the Iranian nuclear regime. Whether it be the 2019 Nuclear Heist or the use of Stuxnet virus to cripple Iran’s nuclear capacities or the assassination of the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020 – the Mossad is a lethal agency that uses the perfect blend of old school tactics like assassination and new age digital and cyberwarfare to achieve its objects. It has been described as a near-perfect, lethal force that is employed by Israel to neutralise its threats making it an essential cog to its national security apparatus.

The Mossad is often celebrated in its action and not looked at critically. To appear less as propaganda, it becomes important to understand the shortcomings of such institutions as well as it accolades. The risks of the style of Mossad have been most prominently accounted for by Tamir Pardo, former Mossad director. While the authors do mention him, it is in passing without engaging with his point on the sustainability of such intelligence missions in the long term and its effectiveness. Along with this, the implications for international norms and the potential fallback of such operations including copycat behaviour have also not been given much thought. The lack of accountability as displayed by the Mossad should not be glorified internationally but engaged with more critically given the very real consequences that these organisations have especially with respect to life and death and even human rights. They have shortcomings as displayed by the October 7th Hamas attack, mentioning which would have helped their readers create a more informed view of things.

The close partnership shared by the US and Israel has been addressed by the authors in the book especially with respect to Iran’s nuclear capacities. While the United States and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were willing to cooperate with Iran, the intelligence gathered by Israel that pointed to the use of nuclear energy for weapons purposes, resulted in the JCPOA being disbanded. Israel was enraged on the discover and demanded swift and militaristic responses where the Americans stressed a more diplomatic path of engagement. This did not bode well with the Israelis and was seen as leniency by the Americans. The section tends to slip into a more advocative prose rather than a balanced examination of rationalities behind state action. This often leads readers away from forming more informed opinions on what is going on.

The strengths on Target Tehran rests on its ability to captivate readers from the first page – it takes you through a ride that often reads more like fiction than non-fiction. The meticulous research done by the authors is evident in the details given and it displays the ability to simplify complicated geopolitical issues. While the book favours a more dramatic style of prose over analysis – an intended effect of this could easily be the trivialisation of long-tern effects of such action.

Intelligence is fallible, the Mossad could fail and often does and sometimes calculations do not pay off. Intelligence is a human product and espionage even when done well can still be subject to mistakes. To understand this and to then analysis perhaps one of the greatest intelligence organisations in the world would be a more convincing argument. The ethical and moral domains of the world of counterintelligence is given a cursory glance by the authors and roadmap they offer for regional affairs is often overshadowed by their dramatic style of writing. Bob and Evyatar offer readers a highly valuable lens to analyse the changing nature of cyberwarfare, diplomacy and espionage but they do so imperfectly. The full appreciation of the gravitas of the forces at play and their consequences is severely lacking in the book.