The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has criticized the Obama Administration for statements claiming that Israel has been funding and training Iranian dissidents to assassinate scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear program. According to NBC, Washington insiders confirmed there is a close relationship between Mossad and Mujahideen el-Khalq (MEK), the largest group affiliated with the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The claim that Israel has been training and using MEK dissidents to carry out attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists has been made repeatedly by the Iranian regime itself. The U.S. statements on the connection between Israel and the MEK followed the killing last month of Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, a chemistry expert involved in the Iranian nuclear program (‘Mossad training terrorists to kill Iran’s nuclear scientists, U.S. officials claim… but is Israel’s real target Obama?,’ Daily Mail [London], February 10, 2012).

ZOA National Chairman of the Board Dr. Michael Goldblatt said, “We are appalled and deeply concerned that Obama Administration officials have reportedly stated that Israel is training and arming members of the dissident Mujahideen el-Khalq to target Iranian nuclear scientists.

“If these reports are untrue, we urge the Obama Administration to immediately repudiate them, which it has not to date.

“But if these reports are true, we are deeply concerned that President Obama has deliberately harmed Israel. What could be the purpose of disclosing this fact if not to expose a covert Israeli operation aimed at dealing with the looming Iranian nuclear threat by means other than a military strike? What else could be its predictable effect, except to inflame Iran against Israel?

“In this context, it is worth recalling that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued an unusual explicit denial of U.S. involvement in the killing of Ahmadi-Roshan and that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently said that Israel might seek to strike Iran militarily in the spring.

“These statements serve to isolate Israel, to suggest that Israel is responsible for the Ahmadi-Roshan killing and to expose its possible military plans regarding an existential threat to its existence. What ally of Israel would do these things?

“It is no secret that the Obama Administration has applied only limited and belated pressure on Iran in the form of recent sanctions. It delayed a vote for a year by the Congress on sanctions, it let deadlines pass for a negotiated result, and it managed to achieve UN Security Council sanctions only with exemptions for Russia and China, thus reducing much of the sanctions’ impact. It did not turn up pressure on Tehran after the riots aroused by the 2009 rigged presidential elections. 

“This is not an Administration that has acted firmly or swiftly to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons. Now it seems to be acting in a way to endanger and expose Israeli efforts to deal with the threat.”