Mossad chief: war with Iran not over until its ‘extremist regime’ falls

Outgoing Mossad Director David Barnea said Israel’s campaign against Iran will not be considered complete until the country’s ruling system is replaced, delivering one of his clearest statements yet linking the ongoing conflict to the future of the Islamic Republic itself.

“Our commitment will be fulfilled only when this extremist regime is replaced,” Barnea said at the intelligence agency’s Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony on Tuesday. “That regime, which seeks our destruction, must pass from the world. Our mission has not yet been completed.”

However, he stressed that the end of active fighting does not mean the mission is over, noting that operational planning had anticipated a prolonged conflict.

“We did not think this mission would be completed immediately with the end of the battles,” Barnea said. “We planned for our campaign to continue.”

Barnea is due to step down from his position on June 2 at the end of his five-year term. The government approved Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman, currently Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military secretary, to replace Barnea on Sunday.

Barnea said Israel repeatedly raised red flags about Iran’s nuclear program and expanding ballistic missile arsenal. “We warned time and again about the danger posed by the nuclear program as an existential threat,” he said, “and about the quantities of ballistic missiles threatening Israeli civilians throughout the country.”

He said Israel ultimately acted militarily, describing “two wars of necessity,” referring to twelve days of airstrikes on Iran in June 2025 and the more recent strikes conducted in coordination with the United States. “In the end, we took our fate into our own hands,” Barnea said. “At our side, in a strong alliance and historic cooperation with the world’s most powerful country, we fought together for the values of justice and freedom.”

Barnea said: “Those who naively believe that the Holocaust belongs to the past, that in today’s reality genocide cannot happen, that there cannot be calls for annihilation, that hatred threatening the existence of the Jewish people cannot grow, are mistaken.” He added, “The Iranian threat grew before our eyes, in full view of the world, almost without interference.”

He also said Mossad operatives had operated inside Iran during the campaign. “The Mossad once again operated in the heart of Tehran,” he said. “We brought precise intelligence to the Israeli Air Force, and we struck the missiles threatening Israeli civilians.”