Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed in 2011 the security establishment to finalize plans for an Iran strike that could be executed within 15 days of an order being given, former Mossad Director Tamir Pardo told the Israeli television's investigative and current affairs program Uvda.
Pardo, whose interview was to be aired in full on Thursday, the special directive was issued to the entire defense apparatus, including the Mossad and the Israel Defense Forces, and was not designed justย "for the sake of a drill."
"When someone makes such a move it could have two meanings: either he actually wanted to go ahead with it [the attack] or he just wanted to signal others, perhaps so that certain people in the United States would know about it in some way or another, and this would make them take action," Pardo said.
Pardo said he consulted legal advisers and even the attorney general at the time to verify that Netanyahu could in fact make such a request on his own. He didn't explain what happened after that, although he said that the option of resigning crossed his mind due to the fear that he would partake in a potentially illegal maneuver.
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu's office.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who was Netanyahu's defense minister in 2011, previously claimed Netanyahu sought to bomb Iran in 2010 and 2011, but was opposed by senior Israeli officials.
