Two senior Mossad officials involved in an unsuccessful plan to topple Iran’s Islamic Republic have been removed from their posts by the agency’s director, Israeli television reported.
According to reports, one official had headed Mossad’s intelligence directorate since December, while the other led its Iran division.
Both were reportedly among the architects of a written operational plan aimed at exploiting Iran’s minority groups and encouraging renewed mass protests to overthrow the government.
According to the report, Mossad Director Roman Gofman and the two officials had clashed over the plan from the outset.
Security officials cited in the report said their departures were agreed mutually as part of a wider reorganisation of the agency. Both officials are expected to remain with Mossad in other positions.
The plan reportedly envisaged Israeli strikes on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) positions near Iran’s border with Iraq, particularly in Iranian Kurdistan, to enable Kurdish fighters to enter the country.
The operation was also reportedly linked to efforts to trigger nationwide protests involving millions of demonstrators. One element of the plan envisaged installing former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the country’s leader.
A US newspaper reported last month that Israel had undertaken a multi-year effort to recruit Ahmadinejad, including a meeting with then-Mossad chief David Barnea at an academic conference in Hungary. Ahmadinejad’s office denied the report.
At the start of the war in February, Israel and the United States (US) carried out strikes on Iranian security and military targets, including positions in the country’s northwest, reportedly in part to facilitate the Kurdish offensive.
The plan was later abandoned by Washington following media leaks, Turkish lobbying and reluctance among Kurdish groups, according to the reports.
The wider campaign also sought to weaken Iran’s military capabilities and reduce threats from its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
The reports said US officials later dismissed Israeli predictions of regime change, with the CIA chief and secretary of state describing Netanyahu’s assessment as “farcical” and “bullshit”.
