Mossad Chief Removes Two Senior Officials After Failed Iran Regime Change Operation

Mossad Chief Ronen Gofman has dismissed two top officials from the agency's leadership: the head of the intelligence directorate, appointed only in December, and the head of the Iran division. This decisive move follows the failure of a complex covert operation aimed at overthrowing Iran's Islamic regime, which involved recruiting minority groups and establishing an alternative leadership. Despite extensive media and political attention, the plan was never implemented on the ground.

According to a report by Yaron Avraham on Channel 12, security sources indicated there was a lack of professional chemistry between the two officials and Gofman from the start, and their removal was consensual. However, defense officials emphasized that the dismissals were significant, as these two had been key architects of the operational concept and had developed the plan into a full-fledged operation.

The operation was a joint effort between Israel and the United States, involving a secret and ambitious plan to combine a ground invasion by Kurdish forces with massive Israeli-American air support. In May, The New York Times reported that the U.S. and Israel had targeted former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a specific candidate to lead a post-regime government in Tehran.

American sources and an associate of Ahmadinejad explained that the operation quickly unraveled on its first day. As part of an attempt to free Ahmadinejad from house arrest, the air force attacked his residence in Tehran, aiming to kill his guards. Although Ahmadinejad survived the strike, he was wounded and subsequently began to doubt the feasibility of the regime change plan.