IDF tells Knesset panel new Iranian regime even more extreme

MKs told new leadership dominated by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards; Bismuth says fighting may soon restart, as panel extends reservist call-up through May 14

By Ariela Karmel

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9 April 2026, 10:38 pm

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

Iran’s new leadership is even more extreme than its predecessor, Israel Defense Forces representatives told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee during a closed-door intelligence briefing Thursday, a day after US President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran.

Two sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed to The Times of Israel Hebrew media reports of the IDF’s bleak assessment, adding that lawmakers were told that much of the new leadership is drawn from the ranks of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who are considered to be far more ideologically rigid than the previous political leadership.

Israel and the US launched their campaign against Iran on February 28 to degrade the Iranian regime’s military capabilities, distance threats posed by Iran — including its nuclear and ballistic missile programs — and “create the conditions” for the Iranian people to topple the regime, the military and other Israeli leaders have said.

Before a ceasefire went into effect, the Israeli Air Force conducted hundreds of waves of strikes in Iran, dropping over 13,000 bombs on Iranian regime and military sites, killing dozens of top political and military figures in the joint bombing campaign, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran’s top clerics have named Khamenei’s son Mojtaba as his successor, though he has not been seen in public since the start of the war, when he was reportedly wounded in a strike.

While the broader Islamic Republic regime has not fallen, Trump has repeatedly tried to frame the killing of Khamenei and dozens of other top officials in air strikes by the US and Israel as tantamount to the collapse of the old government, amounting to “regime change.”

A demonstrator holds a picture of Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Opposition figures have criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said he would support and abide by the two-week truce with Iran, accusing him of failing to secure Israel’s stated strategic goals, due to the survival of the Iranian regime, its nuclear capabilities and ballistic missiles, as well as Hezbollah’s missiles.

Committee chair Boaz Bismuth said in a post on X following the meeting that “There is a possibility that the campaign will resume in the coming days,” and that “we are only at an interim stage.”

While Netanyahu said that Israel achieved significant goals in Iran and was “stronger than ever,” he also said that there was still more to be done, and that Israel would be ready to return to fighting at a moment’s notice.

Following the discussion, the panel also announced that it approved the extension of the call-up of up to 400,000 reservists until May 14, approved by the government two weeks ago.

The previous cap was 280,000, approved in December. Since the outbreak of the war with Hamas in October 2023, the government has renewed emergency call-up authorizations every few months, enabling the IDF to mobilize reservists quickly and keep them in service longer than permitted in non-emergency times.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.