Israeli spy agency says Iranian agents targeting its people worldwide

Iranian agents are attempting to attack Israeli targets around the world in retaliation for covert operations and to prevent the assassinations of more of its nuclear scientists, the head of Israel's security agency Shin Bet has claimed.

Meanwhile, Britain's Mirror newspaper reported that Israel had formed an "elite unit" of commandos called the Depth Corps to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Mossad hit squads have already carried out assassinations on Iranian nuclear scientists — four have been assassinated in the past two years. Iran has been joined by impartial observers in the international community in suspecting the Israeli secret services, or its proxy agents, are involved.

The "Depth Corps," meantime, had "been sent deep inside Iran to prepare an all-out strike against its nuclear program," the Mirror wrote.

Separately, the Washington Post reported Thursday that Israeli leaders had delivered "one of the bluntest warnings to date of possible airstrikes against Iranian nuclear sites."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said time was running out for stopping Iran’s nuclear advance, as the country’s uranium facilities disappear into newly constructed mountain bunkers.

And the chief of Israel’s military intelligence warned Thursday that about 200,000 missiles and rockets are aimed at the Jewish state at any given moment, UPI reported.

The focus of Israel's leaders on Iran is likely to add to the anxiety in Western capitals that that the right-wing coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will launch a surprise attack against the Islamic Republic, embroiling the wider Middle East and the US in the conflict.

According to UPI:

"Many serving and retired military and intelligence leaders in Israel had warned that unilateral Israeli military action could trigger a catastrophic Middle East war that will drag in the Americans."

Meanwhile, Yoram Cohen, head of Shin Bet, said in a lecture reported by Haaretz that: "It doesn't matter if it's true or not that Israel took out the nuclear scientists. A major, serious country like Iran cannot let this go on. They want to deter Israel and extract a price so that decision-makers in Israel think twice before they order an attack on an Iranian scientist." 

Three attempted attacks, in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Thailand, had been "thwarted" at the last minute in the past year, he reportedly said at a closed forum in Tel Aviv.