by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Mossad Director David Barnea said Tuesday that Israel bears a responsibility to ensure Iran never restarts its nuclear program, six months after Israeli and U.S. strikes severely damaged Tehran’s atomic facilities during a 12-day war.
Speaking at an award ceremony honoring Mossad intelligence agents in Jerusalem, Barnea warned that Iran’s nuclear ambitions remain alive despite the military setbacks.
“The idea of continuing to develop a nuclear bomb still beats in their hearts,” Barnea said. “We bear responsibility to ensure that the nuclear project, which has been gravely damaged, in close cooperation with the Americans, will never be activated.”
Barnea, who is set to conclude his term as Mossad chief in June 2026, praised Israel’s surprise opening strikes against Iran, saying they exposed the depth of Israeli intelligence penetration into the Islamic Republic.
“The ayatollahs’ regime awoke, in a single moment, to discover that Iran was entirely exposed and infiltrated,” he said, while cautioning that Tehran has not abandoned its declared goal of destroying the Jewish state.
The Mossad chief expressed deep skepticism toward diplomatic efforts with Tehran, warning against any renewed nuclear agreement.
“Iran believes it can deceive the world once again and implement yet another bad nuclear deal,” Barnea said. “We did not and will not allow a bad deal to come to fruition.”
Western powers have long accused Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, while Tehran continues to deny the charge. Israel and its allies argue Iran’s uranium enrichment levels have no credible civilian explanation and point to Tehran’s obstruction of international inspections and expansion of its ballistic missile program. When the June war began, Israeli officials said Iran had taken concrete steps toward nuclear weaponization.
The conflict erupted after Israel launched a surprise attack on June 13, following the collapse of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks mediated by Oman. Those negotiations had been underway since April and ended after Israel acted at the close of a 60-day deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump to halt Iran’s uranium enrichment.
Israel said its sweeping assault on Iran’s senior military leadership, nuclear scientists, enrichment sites, and missile infrastructure was necessary to prevent Tehran from realizing its stated aim of destroying Israel. The United States later joined the campaign, striking three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Iran reported that more than 1,000 people were killed in Israeli strikes. Tehran retaliated by launching more than 500 ballistic missiles and roughly 1,100 drones at Israel, killing 32 people and injuring over 3,000, according to Israeli health officials.
President Trump has repeatedly said U.S. strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program. However, the Pentagon has assessed that the attacks delayed Iran’s program by one to two years, a conclusion that contradicts an initial classified U.S. intelligence report cited by American media suggesting the setback may have been only a few months.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has dismissed Trump’s claims, telling the U.S. president to “keep dreaming.”
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said an agreement between Iran and the United States may be the best path to ending Israeli military operations in Lebanon, while defiantly rejecting any outside demand that the Iranian-backed terrorist group disarm.
U.S. federal prosecutors announced criminal charges Tuesday against the operator of the cargo ship that struck and destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in 2024, killing six construction workers.
Inflation increased 0.6% in April, with an overall rate of 3.8% over the last 12 months, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
More than two years after the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel’s history, the Knesset has approved legislation establishing a special military tribunal to prosecute terrorists accused of participating in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
The United States has been holding regular negotiations with Denmark and Greenland to expand America’s military presence on the strategic Arctic island, according to the BBC citing multiple officials familiar with the talks.
Federal authorities have charged more than 25 members and associates of Tren de Aragua, the violent Venezuelan-born criminal network recently designated by the Trump administration as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, in a sweeping nationwide crackdown aimed at dismantling the gang’s expanding footprint inside the United States.
The United Arab Emirates has carried out military strikes directly on Iranian soil, according to an exclusive report by The Wall Street Journal — a revelation that marks a seismic shift in the Persian Gulf balance of power and places a major Arab Gulf monarchy squarely in the role of active combatant against the Islamic Republic of Iran.