Dagan urged support for Iranian minorities to oust regime

Wikileaks document: Mossad chief also warned US about selling advanced arms to Saudi Arabia.

By YAAKOV KATZ
Meir Dagan (photo credit: courtesy)
Meir Dagan
(photo credit: courtesy)
Israel and the United States need to do more to create regime change in Iran, Mossad director Meir Dagan urged a top American diplomat in 2007.
In a meeting in August 2007 with Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, Dagan pressed for more activity among Iranian minority groups to overthrow the Islamist regime.
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“Instability in Iran is driven by inflation and tension among ethnic minorities.
This, Dagan said, presents unique opportunities, and Israelis and Americans might see a change in Iran in their lifetimes,” the cable read.
According to the cable, Dagan referred to supporting student democracy movements, and ethnic groups such as the Azeris, Kurds and Baluchs, who oppose the ruling regime.
“He [Dagan] said he was sure that Israel and the US could ‘change the ruling regime in Iran, and its attitude towards backing terror regimes.’ He added, ‘We could also get them to delay their nuclear project.
Iran could become a normal state,’” according to the cable.
Dagan also warned about the sale of advanced American weaponry to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states saying that they would not know how to use the “weapons effectively.”
During the meeting, Dagan stressed that Iran had weak spots that could be exploited, citing unemployment, which he said exceeded 30 percent, with some towns and villages experiencing 50% unemployment, especially among 17-30 year olds.
“The economy is hurting,” Dagan said, according to the cable, “and this is provoking a real crisis among Iran’s leaders.”
He added that Iran’s minorities are “raising their heads, and are tempted to resort to violence.”
In November 2009, almost a year into Barak Obama’s presidency, a cable that summed up a meeting of the annual Strategic Dialogue between Israel and the United States in Jerusalem cited a Mossad official who said the Mossad’s analysis was that Iran will use negotiations to stall for time so that by 2010-2011, it will have the technological capability to build a nuclear weapon.