A top Israeli official has denied the country took responsibility for Sunday’s killing of an Iran’s Revolutionary Guard colonel in Tehran, amid fears of Iran targeting Israelis abroad for revenge.
Infuriated by a leak to The New York Times about the assassination of Hassan Sayyad-Khodaei -- a member of IRGC’ Quds Force, responsible for operations outside Iran’s borders – the head of Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Ram Ben Barak rejected the report on Thursday, saying, “It mainly harms trust.”
The former deputy chief of the Mossad spy agency said, “As far as I know, we did not inform anyone or take responsibility, and that is for the best.”
“We have very many close relationships and a lot of cooperation between us, which all depend on trust, and when it is violated in some way then it damages future cooperation. I hope the Americans investigate the leak and figure out where it came from and why it occurred,” he added.
According to Israeli media, political and security chiefs held consultations after the leak and plan to issue advisories against traveling to some destinations that border the Islamic Republic, including UAE, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, and possibly Turkey.
Saying that Israel was surprised at the leak, an Israeli official told Channel 12 News that there are currently no specific intelligence warnings of attacks but Israelis would be advised to be particularly cautious when visiting those countries due to the presence of terror infrastructures there.
According to The New York Times article, an intelligence official said the Israelis killed Khodaei as a warning to Iran to halt the operations of a covert group within the Quds Force known as Unit 840, tasked with abductions and assassinations of foreigners around the world, including Israeli civilians and officials.
