Turkish intervention derailed a carefully laid operation by Israeli intelligence service Mossad aimed at destabilizing Iran through Kurdish armed factions.
The operation’s collapse has stirred deep divisions within Israel’s intelligence community, leading two senior officials to step down.
Sources indicate that the Mossad plan was directed against Iran and formed part of a broader campaign kicked off by joint US-Israeli strikes on Iranian territory on February 28. According to Israeli media reports, Mossad had drawn up a strategy that called for coordinating Kurdish militant groups in northern Iraq and inside Iran with purported Israeli aerial operations.
The stated goal was to spark an uprising against the Iranian government, while the airstrikes were meant to bring military pressure to bear. However, Israeli sources say the strategy fell apart, drawing sharp criticism of Mossad and Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Sources claim Turkey stepped in after detecting a rise in activity by groups tied to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in northern Iraq and along the Iranian border. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is said to have taken up the matter directly with US President Donald Trump during a phone call in early March.
Ankara made clear it would not tolerate terrorist organizations being drawn into the conflict on Iranian soil and reaffirmed its commitment to Iran’s territorial integrity. Subsequent reporting by US outlets suggests that Donald Trump then backed away from backing the use of Kurdish groups inside Iran and grew more wary of the regime-change proposal put forward by Israel’s prime minister.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has also confirmed that Turkey played a decisive role in bringing down the initiative.