According to the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), the Mossad may have been responsible for bombing, attacking, and threatening Swiss and German firms that were aiming to help Pakistan grow its nuclear industry in the 1980s. The Mossad saw Pakistan's growing nuclear capabilities as a "threat". 

An investigation report by the daily wrote that “the suspicion that the Mossad might be behind the attacks and threats soon arose. For Israel, the prospect that Pakistan, for the first time, could become an Islamic state with an atomic bomb posed an existential threat.”

Iran and Pakistan worked in the 80s together to develop nuclear devices, and German and Swiss firms were also involved in the development of Iran's nuclear capabilities. 

According to the paper, previously unknown documents have been revealed about this narrative.

Although there is no direct proof that the Mossad carried out attacks against the firms, Swiss historian Adrian Hanni contends that the Mossad was likely behind the attacks. 

The Pakistani nuclear scientist who played a prominent role in developing nuclear Pakistan, Abdul Qadeer Khan, went to Europe in the 80s to secure technology and blueprints from Western companies for a device. Khan, according to NZZ, met with a delegation from Iran's Organization for Atomic Energy in 1987 at a hotel in Zurich. The delegation was led by Masud Naraghi, an Iranian engineer and chief of Iran's nuclear energy commission. 

Related News

EV sales in China to overtake traditional cars ahead of the West: FT

Western Europe’s support for Ukraine diminishes amid ongoing war: Poll

During that time, the US tried to diminish Pakistan's efforts but to no avail. Therefore, the US attempted to coerce German and Swiss governments to crack down on companies, firms, and personnel that were helping Pakistan. 

According to the NZZ, “A few months after the unsuccessful intervention of the American state department in Bonn [then-capital of West Germany]  and Bern, unknown perpetrators carried out explosive attacks on three of these companies: on February 20, 1981, on the house of a leading employee of Cora Engineering Chur; on May 18, 1981, on the factory building of the Wälischmiller company in Markdorf;  and finally, on November 6th, 1981, on the engineering office of Heinz Mebus in Erlangen. All three attacks resulted in only property damage, only Mebus's dog was killed.”

Furthermore, quoting the paper, “The explosives attacks were accompanied by several phone calls in which strangers threatened other delivery companies in English or broken German. Sometimes the caller would order the threats to be taped. ‘The attack that we carried out against the Wälischmiller company could happen to you too’ - this is how the Leybold-Heraeus administration office was intimidated."

The owner of VAT weighed in on the series of events, saying that an employee from the Israeli embassy in Germany, whose name was David, contacted the VAT executive, urging him to stop 'nuclear business' with Pakistan.

"Siegfried Schertler, the owner of VAT at the time, and his head salesman Tinner were called several times on their private lines. Schertler also reported to the Swiss Federal Police that the Israeli secret service had contacted him. This emerges from the investigation files, which the NZZ was able to see for the first time.”

The US government recently released archives exposing the correspondence between the US, Bonn, and Bern in 1980, which depicted a very cross Washington as they observed Europe's handling of the situation. 

The paper writes, “This shows how the US resented the two countries' casual handling of the delicate deliveries to Pakistan. In a note from an employee, Bern's behavior was described as a ‘hands-off approach’ - the local authorities were accordingly accused of turning a blind eye. In the now released dispatches, which were previously classified as secret, those companies are listed for the first time that the US has accused of supporting the Pakistani nuclear weapons program with their deliveries. The list included around half a dozen companies each from Germany and Switzerland.”