Iran has been so hard hit by the coronavirus crisis that Israel’s spy agency does not currently see the country as an immediate national security threat.
Sources knowledgeable about Mossad’s operations told the New York Times that the spy agency has shifted its focus from the threat Iran poses to the country to combating the health emergency.
The coronavirus spread to the top levels of government in Iran, with at least seven officials becoming infected in February. Iran has more than 74,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 4,600 deaths as of Tuesday morning, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.
Meanwhile, Mossad has been working to acquire medical supplies from abroad for the Israeli health system. Since March, Yossi Cohen, the director of Mossad, has been leading a control center to handle the distribution of medical supplies across the country.
In the last month, the spy agency acquired 100,000 coronavirus testing kits, 1.5 million surgical masks, tens of thousands of N95 masks, and other protective equipment from abroad, as well as technology that has allowed Israeli laboratories to conduct coronavirus tests.
It’s unclear where the imported medical supplies have come from. Non-Israeli media reports have said some of the items have come from Arab nations that have no official diplomatic relations with Israel.
