Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid (left) and Ronen Bar, the director of Israel’s security agency Shin Bet
The director of Israel’s security agency Shin Bet said Sunday Iran is not just a nuclear problem, but is the root cause of most of the problems in the Middle East.
Emphasizing that the Islamic Republic “is the main problem in the Middle East,” Ronen Bar said that “Iran is the cause of much of the problems we are facing now in the West Bank, and the recent fighting in the Gaza Strip.”
“We can only dream of the level of terror” Tehran can promote if sanctions against the country are removed as part of a revival of the 2015 nuclear agreement with the US and the West.
He said the eras of conventional warfare, the nuclear arms race and physical terror have passed and in the current era terrorists can use social media platforms and algorithms to influence trends to manipulate the understanding of the general populations of Western countries of the current world events.
He added that “information technology must transform into information management” to fight back against these social media trends, stressing the need to develop a diverse mix of technological experts in different cyber and other arenas, who can deal with distinct social media threats impacting the Palestinians and other Shiites throughout the region.
Earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid thanked France, the United Kingdom and Germany for their “firm position,” a day after the European powers raised “serious doubts” about Tehran's intentions to reach a nuclear deal.
On Thursday, the US Special Representative for Iran Rob Malley met with Jewish groups after an unexpected lag in Iran nuclear negotiations following several weeks of progress.