Yossi Cohen, the former head of Israel’s foreign intelligence service, published an essay outlining his career and asserting that years of Israeli intelligence work culminated in a June 13, 2025, strike on Iran that he says substantially degraded Tehran’s nuclear program.
In an opinion piece released alongside the announcement of his memoir, Cohen — who served as Mossad director after a stint as national-security adviser and retired after a 38-year career — described a doctrine he helped develop under which local agents not only gather intelligence but act as operatives capable of preemptive action. He attributed the planning and execution of operations targeting Iran to that approach and said the 2018 operation to seize Iran’s secret nuclear archive had been decisive in shaping subsequent policy and military steps.
Cohen wrote that the June 2025 attack, which he described as carried out by Israel with "the full weight of American power behind it," should be remembered as a historic day that made the world safer. He asserted the strikes achieved close to a comprehensive neutralization of Iran’s nuclear sites, saying there is now "no active uranium enrichment in Iran" and that Iran’s enrichment capability had been destroyed or severely damaged. Those claims were presented as Cohen’s assessment; the essay did not cite independent verification of the technical status of Iran’s facilities.
Cohen also recounted earlier work, including the 2018 operation to obtain Tehran’s nuclear archive, and said he had pressed the United States to declare it would use force if Iran pursued a nuclear weapon. He said he personally had spoken to three U.S. presidents about the issue and described the June strikes as creating a deterrent that would dissuade Tehran from future advances.
He expressed regret that the operation did not lead to regime change in Iran, calling the removal of Iran’s clerical leadership a "missed historic opportunity," while also saying he respected the decision by the U.S. administration to aim for regional stability. Cohen framed his decade-spanning work as tied to what he called the defense of Israel and of "Western civilization," painting the conflict in terms of existential threats to democracies that share values of freedom and human rights.
The essay also addressed domestic and international responses to Israel’s policies. Cohen criticized demonstrators he said chant slogans such as "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," and accused many protesters of never having visited Israel and of denying the October 7 attacks he described as atrocities. He warned of rising antisemitism and described global disinformation as enabling a surge in hostile acts and rhetoric against Jewish communities.
Cohen argued that the principal danger, in his view, comes not from Israel but from what he described as "murderous regimes, global in scope and ambition," and he presented Israel’s military posture and its partnerships with democracies — naming the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany — as central to confronting those threats. He wrote that the Jewish people have "no other homeland" and defended Israel’s role as a refuge.
The essay is tied to Cohen’s forthcoming book, The Sword of Freedom: Israel, Mossad, and the Secret War, scheduled for release Sept. 16. He said in the piece that many of the operations he led remain secret and that some episodes and meetings with world leaders will be recounted in the book.
Human rights organizations, nuclear monitors and independent analysts were not quoted in Cohen’s essay; the claims about the technical state of Iran’s nuclear program were presented as his professional judgment. Public assessments of Iran’s nuclear activities have varied in recent years, and independent verification of damage to specific facilities typically requires on-the-ground inspection and reporting by international monitoring agencies.
Cohen’s account places covert operations and preventive strikes at the center of Israel’s strategy for countering threats. He credited a long-term intelligence campaign, including the 2018 archive operation, with exposing Tehran’s activities and shaping international response. Cohen also described his confidence that the June strikes established a deterrent effect, saying Iranian nuclear scientists would now fear further action.
The publication of the essay and the memoir excerpts is likely to draw further attention to questions about the role of intelligence operations, the scale and consequences of the June 2025 strikes, and broader debates over Israeli policy toward Iran and the wider region. Cohen's narrative frames those events as the culmination of decades of planning and as a defining chapter in his life’s work.
The essay and book release come amid continuing international discussion over the future of Israel’s relations with other governments and the responses of states and civil society to Middle East developments. Cohen’s account will be read alongside reporting and analysis from independent observers as policymakers, analysts and international organizations assess claims about the conduct and consequences of operations directed at Iran’s nuclear program.