Former Mossad Chief Urges Israel to Defy Netanyahu on Iran TEHRAN (FNA)- Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan maintained his critical stance on Netanyahu's threatening remarks against Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu harmed efforts to prevent the nuclearization of Iran by focusing the world's attention on the potential for an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan said on Sunday in a joint interview with the Jerusalem Post and the New York Times. Dagan's appearance at the Post conference was his first in public since he received a liver transplant in 2012. Dagan caused an uproar when he criticized Netanyahu in the past on the Iranian issue, and he said his opinion had not changed. Dagan called Netanyahu "a clever man," but added that the prime minister "was perceived as involving himself in internal issues in the US and interfering in the American election and went too far." This was not helpful for the goal of maintaining US-Israel relations, he said. On Syria, Dagan downplayed the chemical threat and the threat of an Islamic takeover of the country. During his speech, Dagan told conference attendees that the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war was a "local decision," and it was "not approved by the Syrian government." Dagan said that he was hesitant to "make an estimation" Assad would "leave soon."