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When a former director of the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency for special operations, talks about Iran these days, it is instructive to listen carefully. Danny Yatom addressed an International Institute for Counter-Terrorism conference at the prestigious Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya on September 12 and suggested that only military force could stop Iran, and that he would not want to be part of an Iranian 'experiment.' Yatom argued that sanctions were not enough to stop or slow the Iranians and expressed his hope that the world would comprehend this reality, adding that a joint effort by the world's air forces under U.S. leadership could "if not to completely remove the threat, at least to delay it for years to come."

With regard to the Iranian nuclear program we are assured that all options on the table. These options do include non-violent, diplomatic measures and sanctions. Another option is a military strike, which is alluded to when stressing that all means could be exhausted. It should be noted, however, that there is another way to attempt to slow or stop the Iranian program even though it is never mentioned: The clandestine work of intelligence agencies to sabotage, interrupt and stifle Iran's nuclear ambitions. As this article's title -- part of the Mossad's motto -- expresses, desperate times call for drastic measures. Even the few stories that make it into the news are indicators of the, at times, blunt efforts of Western secret agents.