Iranian regime could still fall, but we stopped in the middle of the operation, former Mossad senior official says

The plan developed by Israel and the Mossad could still lead to the fall of the Iranian regime, but it has not been pursued in all its stages after the United States’ decision to stop the war, “Aleph,” a former Mossad senior official who retired last year, tells Channel 12.

“We didn’t try all the way; we were stopped along the way,” he says. “This is a multi-stage plan that has been prepared over time and has been paused for the time being. In this war, we went out with a partner, a strategic power that at some stage stopped the fighting, but these stages started and developed, including the use of Kurdish partners, with the goal of replacing the regime.”

Aleph expresses hope that at some point, the next stages of the operational plan will be authorized.

“A plan like this is a long-term plan that can take a long time, and you have to persevere in all its stages,” he notes.

At the same time, he believes that the conditions have been created so that eventually the regime will lose power.

“Whether it will fall in six months or in three years, I cannot predict, but there is no doubt that this regime will fall,” he says.

In the interview, Aleph describes how, during the Twelve-Day War dubbed by Israel as Operation Rising Lion in June 2025, the Mossad operated in Iran in ways that would have been unthinkable even a few years before.

“It was an operational military unit working according to advanced operational training, with weapons, night vision devices, and the ability to guide missiles, inside Iran,” he says. “This is something we couldn’t have seen six years ago. This is the great revolution that has taken place in the Mossad [under former Mossad chief David Barnea].”

According to Aleph, in recent years, the Mossad has stepped up recruitment, training, and trust in agents from enemy countries, relying on them with operations that before would have been performed only by Israeli agents.