Israel’s spy chief, David Barnea, said on Tuesday that the war in Iran had delivered a severe blow to the Iranian regime but that Israel’s mission would be complete only once the regime was replaced, suggesting that Israel is still working to that end.
In rare public remarks, broadcast from a ceremony marking Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day on Tuesday, Mr. Barnea, the head of the Mossad intelligence agency, appeared to address domestic criticism that Israel had not achieved its war goals. In particular, many Israelis have expressed disappointment that Iran’s power structure has survived.
Mr. Barnea also appeared to push back against recent accusations that he may have oversold a plan to ignite a swift, internal uprising against Iran’s theocratic government early in the fighting — a revolt that might have brought the war to a quick end.
Israel’s bombardment in the opening minutes of the war did wipe out Iran’s top leaders, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had presided over the country for more than three decades. But the leadership was soon replaced.
The New York Times has reported that Mr. Barnea presented the proposal to foment a rebellion to senior Trump administration officials during a visit to Washington in mid-January, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had adopted the plan.
Mr. Netanyahu presented his war plans to President Trump and his team in February. The C.I.A. director, John Ratcliffe, described the regime change scenario as “farcical.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it “bullshit.”
“We didn’t think this mission would be completed immediately after the fighting subsided,” Mr. Barnea said on Tuesday. “Rather, we planned — and prepared — for our campaign to continue and to be reflected also in the period following the strikes on Tehran,” he added.
Speaking for the first time about the 45-day U.S.-Israeli military campaign in Iran, Mr. Barnea justified it as a war “of necessity.” With Mossad’s support, he said, Israel had carried out “an unprecedented assault that delivered a severe blow” to an Iranian leadership that had “pledged to destroy us.”
He added that Mossad had operated “in the heart of Tehran,” but provided few details. “We brought precise intelligence to the Air Force,” he said, “and we hit missiles that threatened Israel.”
Isabel Kershner, a senior correspondent for The Times in Jerusalem, has been reporting on Israeli and Palestinian affairs since 1990.
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