Mossad chief warns Iran still aims to destroy Israel, must be stopped from gaining nuclear weapons

Mossad chief David Barnea on Tuesday warned that Iran has not given up its “ambition to destroy the State of Israel.” 

“Although the ayatollah regime woke up, in one moment, to discover that Iran was completely exposed and penetrated, Iran did not abandon its ambition to destroy the State of Israel.” 

Barnea’s remarks came as part of an award ceremony to give certificates of excellence to 12 Mossad employees for Intelligence and Special Duties, held at the President's Residence in Jerusalem. The ceremony was attended by President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Barnea. 

The head of Israel’s intelligence agency expressed strong doubts about the ability of Western governments to reach an effective nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic’s regime. 

"Iran believes it can fool the world again, to implement another bad nuclear agreement," Barnea continued. "We have not allowed and will not allow a bad agreement to be implemented. A country that has pledged to destroy Israel, deceived the world in developing nuclear weapons and enriched uranium to levels that have no explanation other than realizing its desire for a military nuclear weapon, is a country that will break forward as soon as it is allowed to.” 

The Mossad chief said that Israel has a responsibility to ensure that the Iranian nuclear weapons program “is never reactivated.” 

“The idea of ​​continuing to develop a nuclear bomb is still fresh in their hearts. We have a responsibility to ensure that the nuclear project, which was fatally damaged, in close cooperation with the Americans, is never reactivated.” 

Barnea also referred to the Islamic Republic’s support for terrorism, especially directed at Jewish targets, around the world.  

“The criminal idea of terrorism to harm innocent civilians was and still is at the basis of the security strategy of the current Iranian regime. Jihadist elements, ISIS and others, have also pledged to harm every Jew in the world. Our hearts are with the families of the Australian victims.” 

“The purpose of these terrorist attacks is to break our spirit. Our spirit will not be broken, we will continue to celebrate our holiday, and live our lives in Israel and around the world. We will find the attackers and their Iranian senders, as well as the jihadists wherever they flee to, and we will bring them to account. Justice will be done and seen. They know this well,” Barnea said. “Light will prevail over darkness.” 

Israel is reportedly still investigating whether Iran is behind the shooting attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. 

Meanwhile, the Iranian government displayed a banner threatening the northern Israeli city of Nahariya in Tehran’s Palestine Square. 

The banner, which showed the symbol of the Hezbollah terror organization, read, “For the next war, Nahariya be prepared.” 

The banner was revealed as Israel has been carrying out strikes on Hezbollah sites in Lebanon in recent weeks, due to attempts by the Shia terror group to rehabilitate following last year’s Operation Northern Arrows, in which the IDF entered Lebanon, striking and destroying Hezbollah infrastructure throughout the country. 

On Monday, an Iranian regime-linked hacker group announced a bounty for information regarding around a dozen Israelis it claims are part of research and development for air defense systems, including the Patriot, Arrow, and David’s Sling systems. 

As part of the hacking effort, the Handala hacker group released documents revealing the identities of several Israelis, which were shared widely on Arab social media accounts. 

The group has been conducting similar bounties on Israelis who it clams are part of Israel’s defense and weapons systems since October. In a a warning, the group said that "from this moment forward, none of them can walk freely, neither in their laboratories nor in their homes. The world now knows who you are and what you have done. Our friends and supporters are closer than you imagine.” 

The Handala group also claimed to have hacked former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s phone, although Bennett later refuted the claim, saying the Israeli Security Agency found no evidence that his phone had been hacked.