US & Israel’s Iran Strategy: Beyond the Nuclear Program – Ex-Intelligence Officer Claims Disinformation
Recent Iranian missile strikes targeted areas near an Israeli nuclear facility, prompting heightened tensions and raising questions about the strategic objectives behind the escalating conflict, according to reports from the BBC. The strikes followed Iranian claims that one of its own sites had been targeted, initiating a cycle of retaliatory action.
While publicly stated concerns center on Iran’s nuclear program, a former Swiss intelligence officer, Jacques Baud, argues that both the United States and Israel are pursuing broader strategic goals in their approach to Iran. “We find many reasons that are interconnected in a complex way,” Baud stated in a recent interview with Zeitgeschehen im Fokus, as reported by Weltwoche. He distinguishes between “deeper reasons and the pretexts” used to justify actions.
Baud contends that the United States has harbored a long-standing “obsession” with Iran dating back to 1979. He notes that Israel did not designate Iran as its primary adversary until after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Since then, the perceived nuclear threat has been emphasized, despite what Baud asserts is a lack of “territorial claims, economic rivalries,” or any “objective conflict” between the two nations.
Critically, Baud assesses that Iran’s nuclear weapons program is effectively dormant. He claims that Tehran decided in 2003 “that the benefit of an atomic bomb would be smaller than the problems” and subsequently halted the project. Later assessments, he asserts, have confirmed “that Iran has not started a fresh nuclear weapons program since stopping the program in 2003.” Despite this, Baud alleges the continued propagation of the narrative that Iran actively pursues nuclear weapons, attributing this to “disinformation from our media, originating in Israel.”
The situation is further complicated by internal unrest within Iran, which Baud also attributes to external influence. He alleges that the recent protests were “completely steered by the USA,” through support for opposition groups and economic pressure. He also claims that official casualty figures related to the protests have been inflated.
From a military perspective, Baud believes Western assessments underestimate Iran’s defensive capabilities. He describes the Iranian defense system as a “mosaic defense” with a decentralized structure. He also challenges the assumption that the Iranian population would quickly turn against the current leadership, stating that evidence suggests “the population clearly supports the government.”
Baud characterizes the prevailing Western perception of Iran as deeply distorted, stating, “Our image of Iran is the result of over 40 years of American disinformation to justify a war.”
These assertions represent the viewpoint of a single expert and contrast with the assessments of Western governments, which continue to view Iran as a significant security threat. Former U.S. President Donald Trump recently threatened to attack Iranian power plants over the Strait of Hormuz, according to reporting from Al Jazeera, further illustrating the ongoing tensions. The BBC also reported that Trump is “at a crossroads” as the U.S. Considers “tough options” in relation to Iran. The Iranian-American community, as reported by The Guardian, expresses a range of emotions, including “righteous anger” regarding the conflict and Iran’s future.