TEL AVIV (Dispatches) — Israel’s Mossad 
intelligence agency has dismissed two of its most senior officials following the spectacular failure of a covert plan to overthrow Iran’s Islamic establishment — a scheme that U.S. intelligence officials reportedly dismissed as “farcical” and “bullshit” before the war even began.
The dismissed officials include the head of Mossad’s intelligence directorate, who had served in the role since December, and the head of the agency’s Iran division. 
Both were among the architects of a written operational plot aimed at bringing down the Islamic Republic by exploiting terrorist groups and igniting mass protests, according to Israel’s Channel 12.
The plan reportedly envisioned Israeli strikes against Islamic Revolution Guards Corps positions near Iran’s border with the Iraqi Kurdistan region. 
According to The New York Times, the strikes were intended to enable Kurdish terrorist groups to enter Iranian territory and advance into Kurdish cities in the country’s northwest. 
Mossad falsely believed such developments would encourage masses to take to the streets.
Instead, the strategy drastically failed to materialize amid what Iranian officials describe as “intelligence superiority”.
The failed plot was central to Israel’s terrorist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aggressive pitch to President Donald Trump on February 11, just weeks before the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began. 

Netanyahu told Trump that Iran was “ripe for regime change” and that a joint campaign could bring it down within weeks. 
He promised Iran’s missile program would be destroyed quickly, the Strait of Hormuz kept open, and retaliation against U.S. interests kept minimal. He also said Mossad would instigate an internal uprising to “finish the job”.
But U.S. intelligence pushed back the following day. CIA Director John Ratcliffe used a single word to describe the regime-change scenarios: “farcical”. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cut in: “In other words, it’s bullshit.” Analysts concluded an uprising was entirely unrealistic.
When concerns were raised with Trump, he brushed them off, saying regime change was “their problem”.
The plot involved more than just military strikes. According to multiple reports, Mossad had undertaken a multi-year effort to establish contact with certain figures, including an alleged meeting with then-Mossad chief David Barnea, with the goal of installing him as a future leader.
But the plan never reached the operational stage. Security sources told Channel 12 that the effort stalled at an early stage, leading to the proposal being shelved.
The fallout has triggered backlash within Israel’s security establishment. An unnamed Mossad official told Israeli newspaper Maariv that Netanyahu had “ruined” the intelligence agency.
“This is what happens when you appoint a politician [Gofman] whose entire mission is to clean up the failure committed by the prime minister and the political leadership in managing the war,” the source was quoted as saying.
Critics have accused Mossad chief Roman Gofman — appointed in June — of scapegoating the two officials to shift blame away from Netanyahu. Some believe the dismissal was “a gesture of gratitude” from Gofman to Netanyahu for his appointment, according to Yedioth Ahronoth correspondent Ronen Bergman.
The United States and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28 with strikes that assassinated senior Iranian officials and also targeted an elementary school in Minab, killing 168 children and teachers. Despite the attacks, the U.S.-Israeli coalition failed to achieve any of its declared objectives.
Iran carried out retaliatory strikes against U.S. and Israeli assets across the region. After 40 days of war, the invading coalition was forced into a ceasefire. Five months on, Iran has weathered the plots and military aggression, with observers noting that Tehran is emerging stronger from the war.