Israel's secret wars
Israel's foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, sends operatives into and out of Iran on a regular basis; and the mysterious men on motorcycles who have assassinated at least four Iranian nuclear scientists are Israelis.

Those are among the revelations in a new book about Israeli espionage, Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars by Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman (Levant Books: published July 9; paperback $16.99, ebook $8.99).

Raviv and Melman's previous book about Israel's intelligence community, Every Spy a Prince, was a national (New York Times) best seller for fourteen weeks in 1990. They have more details on their blog, IsraelSpy.com.

According to their new book, Israeli spies have a multitude of routes for entering and exiting Iran, and the routes and safe houses inside Iran date back to before 1979, when a revolution brought the Islamic Republic's ayatollahs to power.

The authors write that Israel - for decades using the Mossad as "an alternative foreign ministry" - maintains cooperative relationships with Kurds and other ethnic minorities inside Iran and just outside its borders. But the book says the assassinations of scientists were not conducted by Iranian dissidents.

Embargo set by publisher: no publication until 5 pm ET Sunday, July 8th.