Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is "the best present Israel has received" because of his anti-Israel statements, the former head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency said Wednesday.
"He unites the world against Iran," Ephraim Halevy told the US-backed al-Hurra Arabic-language television station, dpa reported.
"Everything he says proves to that the Iran of today is an Iran you cannot live with," he said in the interview, which was broadcast Tuesday, but excerpts of which were quoted in the Israeli media Wednesday.
"We could not have carried out a better operation in the Mossad than to place a man like Ahmadinejad in power in Iran," he continued.
"Ahmadinejad is the best present we've received. He only serves us," Halevy said.
Israel regards Iran as its chief existential threat, given Tehran's nuclear programme, coupled with Ahmadinejad's frequent statements that Israel should be erased off the map.