A Warning to Israel? - Updated 1/15/12

The latest assassination of an Iranian scientist took place a day or so after American Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton released a statement condemning the Iranian Government’s decision to begin enrichment operations at its Qom facility but also calling for a return to negotiations. One interpretation of the assassination is that it was intended to disrupt the possibility of negotiating.

The Israelis are widely believed to be behind the assassinations of Iranian scientists, possibly with the cooperation of the Mujaheden-e-Khalq, an opposition group within Iran that has been designated a terrorist organization by the American government.

The murder was rapidly condemned by the American government:

The United States has denied any role in Wednesday's killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the United States had “absolutely nothing to do” with the blast that killed Mostafa Ahmadi Rosha, and said the U.S. strongly condemns the attack and all acts of violence.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeated the White House denial.

“I want to categorically deny any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran.”

President Barack Obama called Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. This report tells us that Obama assured Netanyahu that he is committed to Israel's security. Added later: Some say that Obama demanded some explanations from Netanyahu.

The condemnation of the attack is extremely strong. Obama's assurance to Netanyahu is pretty much the usual, which would make sense in balancing out the condemnation. And, of course, we don't know what else may have been said in their phone conversation. Added later: Some say that Obama demanded information about the killing.

Today this article appeared in Foreign Policy. It's a blockbuster: Israeli intelligence agents passed themselves off as CIA agents to recruit members of a Pakistani Sunni terrorist group that wants to overthrow the Iranian government. President Bush is reported to have been furious when he found out about it, as were members of the CIA.

"We don't do bang and boom," a recently retired intelligence officer said. "And we don't do political assassinations."

Israel regularly proposes conducting covert operations targeting Iranians, but is just as regularly shut down, according to retired and current intelligence officers. "They come into the room and spread out their plans, and we just shake our heads," one highly placed intelligence source said, "and we say to them -- 'Don't even go there. The answer is no.'"

That would seem to underscore the White House's condemnation of the latest assassination, as does the article's timing.

Is Washington trying to tell Israel something?

Update (1/15/12): A missile defense exercise between the United States and Israel, scheduled for April, has been canceled. This seems to have been done rather suddenly. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, will visit Israel on Thursday.

Israel's Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon says he's ' disappointed" with President Obama and says that ‘election-year considerations’ are behind U.S. President’s caution over tough Iran sanctions. That's pretty undiplomatic.

Here's an interview with Mark Perry, who wrote the Foreign Policy article on Mossad's false flag operation with Jundullah.

Cross-posted at Nuclear Diner.