The site housed tens of thousands of files related to Project Amad, Iran’s covert nuclear weapons program.By Gila Issacson, JFeedThe Mossad constructed a full-scale replica of an Iranian nuclear archive facility somewhere in Africa and rehearsed one of the most audacious intelligence operations in Israeli history there before carrying it out in the heart of Tehran, former Mossad director Yossi Cohen has revealed for the first time.Cohen’s disclosure, made in a series of recent interviews tied to his public profile ahead of Israel’s October elections, lifts the last major curtain on an operation that altered the trajectory of global nuclear diplomacy and set in motion the chain of events that led to two wars between Israel and Iran.The Africa detail had remained classified for eight years.Cohen explained that building a mock-up of the specific Iranian facility inside Israel would have attracted unwanted attention, so Mossad operatives trained abroad on a model built to mirror the Tehran warehouse compound in precise detail, including the building’s surroundings and the heavy steel safes agents would need to breach with specialized cutting tools capable of reaching extreme heat.On the night of January 31, 2018, fewer than two dozen Mossad agents entered the warehouse in the Kahrizak district of southern Tehran, overrode the alarm system and cut through six of thirty-two safes containing the most incriminating material.They worked for six hours and twenty-nine minutes, removing approximately 50,000 paper documents and 55,000 additional pages of files stored on 183 CD-ROMs before Iranian security officials arrived at dawn.A nationwide manhunt involving tens of thousands of Iranian personnel failed to locate the agents.Cohen said he insisted on extracting original documents rather than copies. “That way, neither the Iranians nor the international community could claim that we had fabricated them,” he said.“I recognize Ali Shamkhani’s handwriting, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s handwriting—both of whom have since disappeared. The originals are still preserved at Mossad headquarters.”The archive contained tens of thousands of files related to Project Amad, Iran’s covert nuclear weapons program, documenting warhead designs, production plans, and years of work the Islamic Republic had denied ever undertaking.Netanyahu publicly displayed portions of the material weeks later in a dramatic televised presentation, accusing Iran of systematically lying to the world.The political impact was swift. Within days, the Trump administration cited the Israeli intelligence as evidence that Iran had entered the 2015 nuclear deal in bad faith.Trump withdrew from the JCPOA shortly after and reimposed sweeping sanctions, a decision most analysts now trace as a direct line to the two subsequent Iran wars and ultimately to the new U.S.-Iran agreement signed on June 17.Cohen has not been shy about his skepticism of that latest deal. “The Iranian regime will never give up on the atomic bomb, regardless of whatever agreement is signed,” he said.“It is a matter of culture, doctrine, and national objective. For Israel, Iran will remain the number one enemy.”The former spy chief, who led the Mossad from 2016 to 2021, has been increasingly outspoken in recent months as he positions himself as a potential political figure ahead of the October vote.The post Mossad built secret replica of Tehran nuclear site in Africa before 2018 raid appeared first on World Israel News.