Israeli intelligence obtained a recording of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh revealing his efforts to develop “five warheads” for Iran that played a large part in convincing then-US president George Bush to combat Iran’s nuclear program, Yediot Achronot reported on Friday.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert played the secret recording, obtained from an Iranian official close to Fakhrizadeh, for former US president George W. Bush during his visit to Israel in 2008. The recording played a vital role in persuading Bush to cooperate with Israel on joint efforts to thwart Iran’s nuclear program, the report said.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak was then serving as defense minister and the report is based on his recollections as well as a number of Israeli intelligence officials.

Following a dinner hosted at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem in honor of Bush, Olmert, Bush, Barak and Bush’s national security adviser Stephen Hadley met in a separate room and Barak asked Bush if the US could supply Israel with certain weapons.

Bush, who had been briefed about Israel’s interest in actively deterring Iran’s nuclear plans, responded by pointing at Barak and saying: “This guy frightens me.” He then clarified that the official position of the US government is that it is opposed to Israel taking action against Iran and that the US itself has no intention of striking Iran as long he is president.

The Israeli officials were not surprised by Bush’s response and Olmert decided he would play the recording for Bush the next day. When the time came, Olmert, who was determined to maintain the secrecy of the recording, asked Hadly to leave the room. Hadley refused, saying that he needed to be present when matters of national security were discussed but eventually agreed to leave on Bush’s encouragement.

Olmert played the recording and explained that the man speaking (in Farsi of course) is  Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the head of Iran’s secret nuclear program, and explained that Israeli intelligence services had recruited an Iranian agent who is close to Fakhrizadeh and had been supplying Israel with information on him for years.

Olmert gave Bush an English transcript of the recording and then made a new request (due to his recognition that Bush would not be persuaded to sell Israel the weapons Barak had requested). He asked that the US fully cooperate with Israel on thwarting the Iranian nuclear program. Bush agreed and Olmert then requested that the US and Israel carry out joint operations against Iran and the president agreed to this as well.

“This was a defining moment in the US/Israeli joint effort to thwart Iran from obtaining nuclear power,” senior government officials during Olmert’s term in office told Yediot.

The recording of Fakhrizadeh was only one part of a huge amount of material that Israel had obtained on Fakhrizadeh and Iran’s nuclear program over many years, proving Iran’s intent to obtain nuclear power for nefarious purposes, the report said.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)