Former Mossad director Yitzhak Hofi (1974-1982) is no longer alive. But he took a secret to his grave, and I do not know whether it is documented in the Mossad’s archives.
He witnessed the birth of radical Islam in the Middle East and the formation of the Shi’ite Islamic Caliphate in Iran. At the time, his friend and colleague in Washington, Stansfield Turner, headed the CIA (1977-1981).
According to SAVAK chiefs’ testimony, Turner had absolutely no understanding of Ruhollah Khomeini, Khomeinism, Islamic radicalism, fundamentalism, and Islamic terrorism. Even when SAVAK directors told him that Islamic terrorist and Islamic Marxist groups, all operating under Khomeini’s cloak, were affiliated with the KGB, he refused to believe them.
After Turner, William Casey went to Langley and wanted to take measures to defeat Khomeini, even if only in appearance, but those efforts bore no fruit.
The Mossad and the CIA lost an ally, friend, and honest, patriotic partner in Iran: SAVAK. During the Cold War, only SAVAK could identify and paralyze these destructive, subversive terrorist groups. But after 1979, this order was disrupted.
Gradually, the Mossad realized that America had no understanding whatsoever of the emergence of a rogue and savage regime in Tehran. Not only had they failed to read the Shi’ite mullahs’ book and Khomeini’s playbook, but they did not even know the Quran, even though many CIA employees attend courses in Arabic, Persian, and Middle Eastern studies.
Now, after half a century, a cancerous tumor stands before the eyes of the world, particularly the CIA and the Mossad.
In international media, including CNN, BBC, MSNBC, and NPR, everyone is preoccupied with absurd theatrics and cheap tricks. They claim SAVAK was bad or the Mossad is harsh toward terrorists. But ask them the difference between Islamic Jihad and the Houthis, and they do not know.
Ask about the organic relationship between the IRGC Quds Force, al-Shabaab, and ISIS, and they do not know. Yet they seem to have a mission to constantly defend engagement with terrorism, ignorantly and shamelessly.
When Gaza came under Israeli assault to put the terrorists in their place and eliminate them, a fraudulent and notorious Persian-language television station in Los Angeles, under the eyes of the FBI and CIA, praised Hamas and Hezbollah, and continues to do so.
Likewise, at Voice of America, funded by American taxpayers, Islamic terrorism and Islamic Marxist terrorists are openly and officially defended. The situation is certainly grotesque.
But perhaps patriotic Mossad officers are asking why the Shi’ite mullah regime in Tehran refuses to back down. They agree with the author of these lines that the regime will absolutely never reach an agreement with US President Donald Trump that would allow the Iranian people to breathe a little easier while enabling its rulers to continue their notorious, oppressive, and destructive rule.
The Shi’ite mullahs’ instruments are precisely these terrorist institutions: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Law Enforcement Forces, the Basij, and the army, each more criminal than the other.
Even today, because of the lack of strong political will in Washington, the absence of planning, the damaging multiplicity of conflicting voices, and lobbying by the Islamic Left (the Reformists), the festering abscess of the Shi’ite mullah regime in Tehran remains open.
No one in Washington contemplates surgery to remove it; instead, they think of commemorative photographs, smiles, and the vain illusion of reaching an agreement. For now, a junta (dictatorship of military men in boots) rules Tehran.
Israel knows that a small group of veteran IRGC commanders, individuals trained in Palestinian camps, and former friends of Yasser Arafat hide behind Mojtaba Khamenei. One signs documents and issues statements in his name; another keeps his image alive on cardboard.
The Mossad knows what the group of approximately 20-25 individuals, the leaders of the IRGC mafia, does, and how, like the devil, they dictate their destructive ideas over everything. The Mossad knows their wicked, thieving, criminal nature cannot change, and that they know no profession but committing atrocities.
Fighting a sacred war
Since establishing the Islamic Caliphate of Velayat-e Faqih and the rule of Allah on Earth before Arafat 48 years ago, they have done nothing but destroy and devastate. The IRGC is a propaganda machine mafia and an economic mafia controlling construction, oil, ports, telecommunications, banks, universities, and newspapers.
They enjoy waging war against America, circumventing sanctions, and threatening the world. Sanctions bring misery to unfortunate, ill-fated Iranians, but profitable business to these criminals. Iran’s interests and national welfare have never mattered to them; they are prepared to commit any form of genocide to preserve their economic empire.
Since 1979, the Shi’ite mullahs have acquired power and wealth and, based on their absurdities, delusions, and superstitions, consider themselves messengers of God. To preserve their power and survival, they shamelessly speak on His behalf.
The more chaotic Iran becomes, and the more devastated, isolated, and sanctioned the country, the fuller the pockets of the mullahs and the IRGC become. Hostility toward America and Israel, and confrontation with all humanity, is no longer an ideology; it is a profession and a business!
The Mossad knows that whenever it eliminated one of these criminals, it witnessed the Iranian people’s joy, cheers, and celebrations. This ruling criminal sect has blood on its hands and views the people as mere slaves and servants. This armed minority considers itself the ruler and Iran its spoils of war.
The Shi’ite mullahs are prepared to resort to murder and terrorism to impose their beliefs. They know that another Israeli attack and an Iranian uprising would unleash personal score-settling and 48 years of accumulated resentment. These grievances have transformed Iran’s impoverished, grieving, mourning society into an angry, distressed, impatient one.
Controlling a society liberated from religious tyranny is extremely difficult: suddenly, 90 million captives are witnessing the collapse of 50 years of atrocities and the end of a rogue, mafia-like, destructive, repressive, plundering, hated regime.
None of these individuals has standing or a popular base inside or outside Iran, and they are prepared to die for their illusory, destructive beliefs and to preserve their financial and professional positions and interests.
The regime’s remaining leaders in Tehran are little more than walking corpses who know the Mossad will eliminate them and that only destruction awaits. Yet they will not abandon their wickedness and crimes until the last moment. This sect’s members neither believe in nor trust themselves.
Within this mafia system, they fear one another, not knowing who is a Mossad spy or agent. Yet they delude themselves into believing they are a superpower that defeated Israel and America. No one reminds them that even sewer rats survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Should we therefore call those rats a superpower too?!
The Mossad knows that the country’s wealth is concentrated among a few, while inflation, poverty, and public dissatisfaction have pushed Iranian society to the brink of explosion. It also knows that Iranian society eagerly awaits a third Israeli attack, possibly with American participation.
The regime’s terrorist doctrine will not save them. They have no intention of handing over power and wealth democratically or humanely. Even if Iran ends up scorched, they will not care. But the Mossad knows the regime has become extremely fragile and increasingly vulnerable.
A regime that came to power through terrorism and remained through terror and atrocities will also be destroyed through war. The architects of this dirty war are the mullahs and Revolutionary Guards, not Israel and America. Yet even after the regime collapses, Iran’s mosques will become terrorist institutions of this sect, which will initiate a civil war.
Ultimately, the Mossad fights a sacred war: destroying Tehran’s regime is more important and consequential than destroying Nazism, communism, and apartheid.
Perhaps under Roman Gofman, the death knell will sound for the Shi’ite mullahs’ Islamic Caliphate, as it did for ISIS. David Barnea and Yosef Cohen may have laid the groundwork. Regardless, as Israel’s loyal friend, I wholeheartedly wish the Mossad success. But a long, rocky road lies ahead.
The writer is a Middle East political analyst. His latest book, Tehran’s Dictator, examines the theocratic era of Ali Khamenei (1989-2026). @EQFard