by Jay Solomon
“Lebanon-based terror is a major tool used by Iran”: Ibid, 110.
“You think we wouldn’t have checked”: Author interview with senior Iranian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“We thought we were being set up”: Author interview with Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.
“I never understood the rationale for the war”: Author interview with Michael Oren.
“You couldn’t read the key judgments”: Author interview with John Bolton.
“We just thought this would be a catastrophe”: Author interview with Benjamin Rhodes.
“There are two futures”: Robin Wright, “Javad Zarif on Iran’s Nuclear Negotiations,” New Yorker, May 21, 2014.
CHAPTER 2: THE MISSED CHANCE
“In the final analysis, we doubt”: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian state media, September 26, 2001.
“Everybody should know that Iran”: Ibid.
“A huge opportunity appeared after 9/11”: Author interview with Hossein Mousavian.
“My first day at the CIA”: Author interview with Gary Berntsen.
“I told the Afghans”: Author interview with Henry Crumpton.
“[This] horrified the Afghans”: Author interview with Gary Berntsen.
“This was a good thing for us”: Author interview with Henry Crumpton.
“It turned out that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps”: Gary Schroen, First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan (New York: Presidio Press, 2005). Kindle edition, chap. 17.
“Massoud was a gentleman”: Author interview with Gary Berntsen.
“The only reason they even pretended”: Author interview with Henry Crumpton.
“The Iranians had given much more lethal”: Author interview with former CIA officer based in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“Qasem is a very pragmatic commander”: Author interview with Hossein Mousavian.
“Zarif was the face the regime liked to put forward”: Author interview with Karim Sadjadpour.
“They were pretty specific that they were willing”: Author interview with James Dobbins.
“Powell thought that our interests”: Ibid.
“The Iranians would sometimes beat down my door”: Author interview with Zalmay Khalilzad.
“Should we not insist that the new Afghan regime”: James Dobbins, After the Taliban: Nation-Building in Afghanistan (Washington: Potomac Books, 2008). Kindle edition, p. 83.
“Iranians do not consider their own weaknesses”: Author interview with Harold Rhode.
“Ghorbanifar, in the end, was only”: Author interview with George Cave.
“This was good information”: Author interview with Michael Ledeen.
“None of the information bore any ties”: Author interview with Bill Murray.
“This was a remarkable moment”: Author interview with James Dobbins.
“The Iranians were very supportive in London”: Author interview with Zalmay Khalilzad.
“We felt like we couldn’t keep this going”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 3: THE SHIITE CRESCENT
“[Military maneuvers in Tehran] are aimed”: Harmony Documents, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
“During his visit to Kuwait, Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim”: Ibid.
“We certainly sought to shake things up”: Author interview with Douglas Feith.
“If you can release Najaf, you can”: Author interview with Ladan Archin.
Chalabi and his aides viewed establishing ties: Author interview with Francis Brooke.
“We should be very, very careful”: Author viewed personal diary of Michael Rubin written during his Iraq tour.
“It seems like the Iranians knew”: Ibid.
“People simply are afraid to come out”: Ibid.
“The Iranians are thinking three or four steps ahead”: Ibid.
“In 2006, Iran seemed to make a tactical decision”: Author interview with Stephen Hadley.
“Soleimani can be brutal or cunning”: Author interview with Mouwaffak al-Rubaie.
The Kurdish politician Noshirwan Mustafa reported angrily: State Department cable sent from Baghdad, June 4, 2009.
“He came to get rid of Jaafari”: Author interview with Zalmay Khalilzad.
“The instructors were members of Lebanese Hezbollah”: Harmony Documents, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
“Everyone in JAM tells everyone”: Ibid.
“Iraqi [Special Group] trainees do not like”: Ibid.
“They were totally shocked”: Author interview with retired general Stanley McChrystal.
“The Americans came to detain this delegation”: Associated Press, “Kurd Leader Says U.S. Troops Tried to Capture Revolutionary Guards in Raid,” April 7, 2007.
“Daqduq contends that the Iraqi special groups”: Brigadier General Kevin Bergner, Department of Defense briefing, July 2, 2007.
“They did a very good job”: Author interview with Stanley McChrystal.
“General Petraeus, you should know that I”: Author interviews with two U.S. defense officials who saw the correspondence.
“General Petraeus mentioned that we continue”: State Department cable sent from Baghdad, November 15, 2009.
“If we sustain casualties from one of these IRAMs”: Author interview with senior U.S. defense official briefed on the exchange.
CHAPTER 4: THE AXIS OF RESISTANCE
“It was a very cynical alliance in every respect”: Author interview with Mouwaffak al-Rubaie.
“The United States and Britain will not be able”: President Bashar al-Assad interview with as-Safir newspaper, March 27, 2003.
“Muslims must use all possible means”: Statement released by Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro, Grand Mufti of Syria, March 26, 2003.
“The Damascus fairgrounds are owned and operated”: Author interview with David Schenker.
he told Hariri he would “break Lebanon over Hariri’s” head: Author interviews with Rafik Hariri’s political allies, including the Druze politician Walid Jumblatt.
In December 2004, Badreddine and three other Hezbollah men: Special Tribunal for Lebanon report on Hariri assassination, June 2011.
A seventeen-year-old Libyan national named Muhammad Anwar Rafiia’a Yahiya: “Al-Qa’ida’s Foreign Fighters in Iraq: A First Look at the Sinjar Records,” Harmony Documents, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
“Syria has an interest in keeping the U.S.-backed regime”: Ibid.
“the cooperation the Syrians provided in their own interest”: Congressional testimony of William Burns, assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, June 2003.
Elliott Abrams, one of President Bush’s closest Middle East advisors: Author’s interviews with three Bush administration officials who described White House debate on whether or not to bomb Damascus International Airport.
“Be careful when you’re there”: Author’s interviews with two former U.S. officials present at the meeting with Hillary Clinton.
“Now we can begin to pursue new projects”: Author interview with Adib Mayaleh.
“He doesn’t want to lead a religious-based country”: Author’s interviews with two Arab Americans who attended Kerry dinner in 2009.
“I thought what I brought back”: Author interview with John Kerry.
“My judgment is that Syria will move”: John Kerry speech at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D.C., March 16, 2011.
“I never argued Assad was a reformer”: Author interview with John Kerry.
“You have to be there in forty-eight hours”: Author interview with Imad Moustapha.
“And now they’re turning to us”: Author interview with Bouthaina Shaaban.
“It is not my democracy as a person”: Author interview with Bashar al-Assad.
“Syria is stable. Why?”: Ibid.
“What you have been seeing in this region”: Ibid.
“How can you accuse anyone”: Ibid.
“If they believed it was nuclear”: Ibid.
“We need to have normal relations”: Ibid.
One of them, Alois Brunner, settled in Damascus in the late 1950s: Jodi Rudoren, “A Long-Sought Fugitive Died Four Years Ago in Syria, Nazi Hunter Says,” New York Times, December 1, 2014.
“We along with other Palestinian factions”: Author interview with Khaled Meshaal.
“If Israel doesn’t accept a halt”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 5: THE PHYSICS RESEARCH CENTER
“Many secretive nuclear activities are at work”: National Council of Resistance of Iran press conference, August 14, 2002.
Jafarzadeh, however, didn’t expose the MeK’s secret collaborator: Author’s interviews with three current and former U.S. officials who outlined intelligence relationship between the MeK and Israel.
“They seemed to have trouble digesting this thing”: Author interview with Alireza Jafarzadeh.
One of the sites disclosed by Jafarzadeh: National Council of Resistance of Iran press conference, August 14, 2002.
Shortly after it was established, the Physics Research Center began sending: David Albright and Paul Brannan, “The Physics Research Center Telexes: New ISIS Studies and Findings,” Institute for Science and International Security, May 16, 2012.
The telexes also show that a “Department 70”: Ibid.
One of these was Ali Akbar Salehi: Ibid.
“We have strongly marked our opposition”: Ali Akbar Salehi, “We Do Not Want Nuclear Weapons,” Washington Post, April 12, 2002.
First it merged into an office inside the Defense Ministry: Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and the Relevant Provisions of Security Council Resolutions in the Islamic Republic of Iran, International Atomic Energy Agency, November 8, 2011.
“Our [nuclear] capabilities are adequate at the moment”: Eric Follath and Holger Stark, “The Birth of a Bomb: A History of Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions,” Der Spiegel, June 17, 2010.
A breakthrough for Fakhrizadeh’s program came: Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and the Relevant Provisions of Security Council Resolutions in the Islamic Republic of Iran, International Atomic Energy Agency, November 8, 2011.
So began a six-year relationship that became central: “Revisiting Danilenko and the Explosive Chamber at Parchin,” Institute for Science and International Security, September 7, 2012.
Not long after Jafarzadeh’s disclosure in Washington in 2002: Author’s interviews with two U.S. intelligence officials briefed on the intercept of Fakhrizadeh’s phone conversation.
Regardless, Fakhrizadeh’s communications ended up forming: Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities, U.S. National Intelligence Council, November 2007.
Intelligence on Iran’s nuclear work continued: Eric Follath and Holger Stark, “The Birth of a Bomb: A History of Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions,” Der Spiegel, June 17, 2010.
The CIA began secretly communicating with a researcher: Author interview of former CIA officer directly involved in Shahram Amiri operation.
A year after Amiri’s arrival in the United States: Shahram Amiri videos posted on YouTube between June and July 2010: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSr8ck7Pqj4; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1FgM4jQdRE; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMLJQ5vuYao.
“I don’t think that any Iranian”: Shahram Amiri statement to Iranian media upon arrival in Tehran on July 15, 2010.
“This was an intelligence war between the CIA and us”: Unidentified Iranian intelligence official to Fars News Agency, July 21, 2010.
Fashi, in a lengthy account of the assassination: Fashi’s confession was broadcast on Iranian state media and detailed in government news accounts. Author corroborated claims with Iranian government officials.
One of Soleimani’s deputy generals: “Treasury Sanctions Five Individuals Tied to Iranian Plot,” Treasury Department press release, October 11, 2011.
Shahlai’s reach stretched far beyond Iraq: United States of America vs. Mansorr Arbabsiar, Gholam Shakuri, Department of Justice, October 11, 2011.
“How are your efforts going to buy the Chevrolet?”: Ibid.
“This was directed and approved by elements”: Eric Holder press conference at Department of Justice, October 11, 2011.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran and North Korea”: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments to Fars News Agency, September 1, 2012.
“Six years ago the intelligence service of the U.K.”: Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani press conference at IAEA headquarters in Vienna, September 20, 2011.
CHAPTER 6: THE RIAL WAR
“We learned that denying access to the dollar”: Author interview with Juan Zarate.
“We wanted to find a way to put the Iranian regime”: Author interview with Stuart Levey.
“We saw an escalating financial war that had”: Ibid.
“As you make your business decisions”: Stuart Levey speech to the 5th Annual Conference on Trade, Treasury and Financial Management in Dubai, March 7, 2007.
“We were concerned that…[if we were] so abrupt”: Author interview with Benjamin Rhodes.
“ ‘Don’t test us’ was our message”: Author interview with senior Treasury official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“As their financial options get narrower”: Author interview with Adam Szubin.
“If there is a buck to be made with the Iranians”: Author interview with Robert Morgenthau.
“I have to be kept informed, and I have to be able”: United States District Court Southern District of New York, in Relation 650 Fifth Avenue and Related Properties, September 16, 2013.
The processing steps were laid out in an internal document: United States of America v. Lloyds TBS Bank PLC, January 9, 2009.
Jahedi was among a coterie of Iranian government officials: United States District Court Southern District of New York in Relation 650 Fifth Avenue and Related Properties, September 16, 2013.
“I don’t think anyone realized that the Iranians”: Author interview with Eitan Arusy.
Lawyer Steven Perles: Author interviews with Steven Perles and his legal associates.
In early 2009, Levey surprised Perles: Author interviews with current and former Treasury officials involved in the Clearstream case.
“We couldn’t believe, in many ways”: Author interview with Steven Perles.
“The case [made] it clear to Iran”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 7: THE CLENCHED FIST
“In particular, I would like to speak directly”: President Barack Obama, Nowruz address, March 20, 2009.
“They chant the slogan of change, but no change”: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei nationally televised speech, March 21, 2009.
“He left the door open”: Author interview with former U.S. official who saw Khamenei’s written response to Obama.
“I think I would closely coordinate with my advisors”: Hillary Clinton during Democratic presidential debate, April 16, 2008.
“He decided that instead of backing off it”: Author interview with Benjamin Rhodes.
“Senator Obama wants to sit down, without any precondition”: John McCain during Louisiana campaign stop, June 4, 2008.
“Our willingness to pursue diplomacy”: Barack Obama speech to American Israel Public Affairs Committee, June 4, 2008.
“What was interesting about Iran is that lots of things”: Author interview with Benjamin Rhodes.
“Our eyes are wide open” when it comes to Iran: Author interview with U.S. official who attended Clinton meeting.
“Because Iranians seem willing to take risks”: Author interview with Jennifer Windsor.
“The White House clearly didn’t want to rock the boat”: Author interview with Karim Sadjadpour.
Administration officials who took part in the debates: Author interviews with four current and former U.S. officials who took part in the debate on the Green Movement uprising.
President Obama ul
timately decided to remain silent: Author interviews with two CIA officers working on Iran during 2009 Green Movement uprising.
“ ‘Let’s give it a few days’ was the answer”: Author interview with senior official involved in White House deliberations, who requested anonymity.
“If you were working on the nuclear deal”: Author interview with Michael McFaul.
“Although there is amazing ferment taking place”: President Barack Obama, interview on CNBC, June 16, 2009.
“It is up to Iranians to make decisions”: President Barack Obama, White House statement, June 16, 2009.
“In 2009, no iron fist is strong enough”: President Barack Obama, White House press conference, June 23, 2009.
“There were a few days where the opposition”: Author interview with Karim Sadjadpour.
“This limits Iran’s ability to have the breakout”: State Department briefing on Iran negotiations, October 1, 2009.
“The failure of the Geneva agreement really marked”: Author interview with Dennis Ross.
“America is angry over the proximity”: Parisa Hafezi, “Turkey, Brazil Seal Deal on Iran Nuclear Fuel Swap,” Reuters, May 16, 2010.
“The confidence that the original…deal would have”: Author interview with State Department official who requested anonymity.
“For reasons known only to them, the leaders”: President Barack Obama, Nowruz address, March 20, 2010.
CHAPTER 8: BLACK GOLD
“If you sanctioned the Iranian central bank”: Author interview with Stuart Levey.
In talks with the Chinese, Ross and other U.S. officials: Author interviews with U.S. and Arab officials involved in Ross’s oil deliberations.
“Iran is very vulnerable in the oil sector”: Saudi prince Turki al-Faisal in a private speech to British and American servicemen at RAF Molesworth air base outside London, June 8, 2011.
“In 2011, every bilateral meeting that the president”: Author interview with Benjamin Rhodes.