Long Arm of the Mossad?

Rumors have been flying for days in both international and Israeli domestic media regarding possible Mossad involvement in a massive explosion that ripped through an Iranian arms depot on Saturday.

On Sunday, anti-Israel blogger Richard Silverstein claimed that an Israeli intelligence source had told him the Mossad was definitely responsible for the blast. Silverstein, however, has a long history of making erroneous or badly sourced statements charging Israel with malfeasance, and his report was taken with a great deal of skepticism.

A Time magazine report published on Monday claiming the same thing, however, is apt to be taken more seriously. Though the reporter, Karl Vick, is known for being hostile to Israel, the magazine still retains some prestige and would be unlikely to sacrifice it by making completely unfounded claims on such a notorious issue.

According to the report, an anonymous source referred to as a "Western intelligence source" - heavily implying that the source in question is not Israeli - claimed

The Mossad — the Israeli agency charged with covert operations — did it. "Don't believe the Iranians that it was an accident," the official tells TIME, adding that other sabotage is being planned to impede the Iranian ability to develop and deliver a nuclear weapon. "There are more bullets in the magazine," the official says.

It is widely believed that the Mossad and/or other foreign intelligence services have been behind a series of events that have severely impeded the Iranian quest for a nuclear weapon, including a remarkably virulent computer virus and a series of assassinations.

It is unclear, however, what the Mossad - or any other Western intelligence agency - might have hoped to gain from Saturday's explosion. While the depot is rumored to have held long-range missiles and the explosion killed an officer in Iran's notorious Revolutionary Guard, the size and intensity of the explosion seem incommensurate with the relatively minor value of the targets involved.

In the intelligence world, of course, everything can be read both forwards and backwards. It is not inconceivable that the blast was so large and disproportionate in order to intimidate the Iranians in the face of the recently released IAEA report, which provided copious evidence of Iran's long-denied nuclear weapons program.

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