Tamir Pardo, a former Mossad director, said Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the order in 2011 for the IDF to prepare to attack Iran within 15 days.
Pardo told Keshet TV's show Uvda in an interview that the order was not given "for the sake of a drill."
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu's office.
Pardo says he consulted the Mossad's legal advisers following the order but didn't explain what happened after that.