Iran Is The Only Country Which May Have Been Ready For This Conflict, Ex-MI6 Chief Claims

Iran looks like the only country which may have been prepared for this current conflict, the former chief of MI6 has suggested.

Sir John Scarlett, who headed up the intelligence service between 2004 and 2009, told Sky News he was surprised when he first heard Donald Trump and Israel had attacked Iran last month.

“It wasn’t because I was surprised by the idea of an attack,” the former intelligence officer said. “But because negotiations were going on.”

He said there was quiet optimism about the progress around Iran’s talks with the US about capping Tehran’s capabilities to prevent the country from building its own nuclear weapons.

Scarlett said: “It was clear [Israeli prime minister] Benjamin Netanyahu was concerned President Trump was reluctant to go in[to Iran].

“And then suddenly he did. So what caused that change in mind? Maybe in one evening?”

He theorised that some intelligence may have come through to sway Trump.

“There’s also the reporting from Marco Rubio that they were convinced the Israelis were going to do it anyway,” Scarlett said. 

“I’m leaning towards a misunderstanding maybe, or an over-interpretation of what was happening or not happening in the negotiations in Muscat.”

He said the Iranian proposals may have been suggesting some flexibility towards a nuclear deal comparable to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Scarlett claimed that could have been interpreted by the White House as “an effect rejection of the US demands”.

Asked if the west should have been better prepared for this conflict, Scarlett said, “wisdom of hindsight is always right”.

“It is clear that almost nobody expected this to happen in quite the way it has,” he said.

“The people who expected it best is perhaps the Iranians, actually, which goes back to the resilience and forward-planning of the Iran regime – and it is very very important that is properly understood.

“Yes, in terms of deployment, weapons deployment, ships deployments, planning and so on – planning for what should have been obvious, which is the vulnerability of the strait of Hormuz. 

“That was not there. And that perhaps includes us.”

Iran has effectively closed the waterway by targeting ships using the strait.

Around a fifth of the world’s oil supply travels along Hormuz, so the conflict has caused oil prices to skyrocket.