Israel says Iran-backed plot targeting defense, intel chiefs foiled

The prosecution said, “There is a vital need for deterrence”, as record numbers of Iran-backed plots were foiled in the country last year alongside Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and conflict with Iran’s allies in the region.

Maman’s sons testified on his behalf, and said that he apologized and asked for mercy. His defense attorney Eyal Basarglik said the sentence was “unfounded."

The businessman who was based in Turkey, but hailed from northern Israel, had entered Iran and met with agents who had instructed him to carry out operations in Israel.

He had asked for an advance of the money to be paid by Iran, which according to Israel’s Ynet, is the reason he did not take the terror operation further.

Prosecutors said that discussions between the defendant and Iranian agents included plans for funding operations against Israel, providing photographic intelligence of Israeli targets, and establishing assassination cells in Russia and the US to target Iranian dissidents.

According to the prosecution, Maman confessed to the charges during 14 Shin Bet interrogations and four additional police interrogations.

"Throughout these interrogations, he revealed the extent of his crime to the investigators and consistently stood by his confession, enriching it with facts and details," the prosecution’s statement said.

The number of people arrested in Israel over Iranian spy plots shot up by 400% in 2024 according to Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency.

“During the year, 13 serious espionage affairs by Israelis were exposed and thwarted for the Iranian intelligence agencies, and serious indictments were filed against 27 Israelis,” a statement said.

“We don't have much time," Gideon Sa’ar told the publication.

"I think that in order to stop a nuclear Iranian program before it will be weaponized, a reliable military option should be on the table," he said, as Iran has already enriched enough uranium for what he said was “a couple of bombs”.

It comes while US President Donald Trump is exerting maximum pressure on Tehran to bring about a deal in his second term.

Sa’ar said that diplomatic options were optimal but the chances of success are not huge, adding that a nuclear Iran would be a “catastrophe for the security of Israel”, with Iran’s nuclear capabilities possibly triggering a nuclear race in the region with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

The foreign minister’s comments follow strong words from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he will end Iran’s nuclear ambitions alongside the US president. “Over the last 16 months, Israel has dealt a mighty blow to Iran’s terror axis. Under the strong leadership of President Trump… I have no doubt that we can and will finish the job,” Netanyahu said.

However, Trump has made clear that a diplomatic solution was the first course of action, instead of "bombing the hell out of it" while his security adviser, Mike Waltz, said all options are currently on the table in order to totally disable Tehran's nuclear program.

Iran's intelligence minister said on Saturday that Iran is a peace-seeking nation, while warning the US and Israel against action against its nuclear sites.

“The Iranian nation is peace-seeking and has no enmity with any country,” Esmail Khatib said.

“However, in the face of adventurism, malicious actions, and unwarranted interference—particularly from the US and the Zionist regime—we will adhere to the strategy of threat for threat and aggression for aggression.”

Most recently, Israel has been battling a new Iran threat in the occupied West Bank, where Tehran has been funnelling weapons and funds via Jordan to its allies such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

"We are now confronting a huge attempt by Iran via money and weapons that are floating to what you call the West Bank," Sa’ar said, as Iran continues to "inflame these territories” amid Israel’s fragile ceasefire with Iran’s allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

On Sunday, Israel's defense minister announced that its war on Iran-backed groups in the West Bank could go on as long as another year, with at least 40,000 people now displaced amid the fighting.

Speaking about the operation named Iron Wall, Defense Minister Israel Katz said: "We will not return to the reality that existed in the past.

"We will continue to clear refugee camps and other terrorist hotbeds in order to dismantle the battalions and terrorist infrastructures of extremist Islam that were built, armed, financed and trained by the Iranian axis of evil."

Citing two unnamed government sources, the outlet said the Islamic Republic has also been bolstering defenses around key nuclear and missile sites, which include the deployment of additional air defense system launchers.

According to the sources, the measures are in response to growing concerns of potential joint military action by Israel and the United States.

“They [Iranian authorities] are just waiting for the attack and are anticipating it every night and everything has been on high alert – even in sites that no one knows about,” one source said.

“Work to fortify nuclear sites has been ongoing for years but it has intensified over the past year, particularly since Israel launched the first attack,” he added referring to Israel’s October attack that damaged Iran's air defense systems.

“Recent developments, including Donald Trump’s comments and reports about potential plans from his administration to strike Iran, have further intensified activities.”

The report follows warnings from US intelligence to both the Biden and Trump administrations that Israel would likely target key Iranian nuclear sites this year.

In February, the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post cited US intelligence findings from January suggesting that Israel saw an opening for an attack on Iranian nuclear sites as early as the first half of this year.

"I witnessed, with my own eyes, the violation of Lebanon's sovereignty by Israeli jets that flew close above our heads, in a pitiful attempt to terrify people who gathered only to mourn," said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi who was in Beirut to attend Nasrallah's funeral.

"If that is not an act of terror, then what is?" he asked in a post on his X account, in which he also embedded a video of the Israeli jet fighters flying low over the Lebanese capital.

The Israeli defense minister confirmed his country's aircraft flying over the funeral of Nasrallah, saying that the move "conveyed a clear message: Those who threaten to destroy Israel and attack Israel, it will be their end."

“You will specialize in funerals, and we will in victories,” Israel Katz said in a statement.

As the funeral was under way in Beirut, the Israeli military released videos of the moment it assassinated Nasrallah on September 27, 2024, along with several other commanders of the Iran-backed group, in an attack on their underground headquarters in Beirut.

Hezbollah, designated a terrorist organization by countries such as the US and UK, is currently in a fragile US-French brokered ceasefire with Israel, while both sides allege continued violations.

Although Israel's military has mostly pulled back from southern Lebanon, its air force continues to target what it claims are Hezbollah positions throughout the country, while its troops still maintain control over five hilltop positions along the border.

“We are the children of Khomeini and Khamenei,” Qassem said in a video message saying the group's struggle is guided by the ideology of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

In the video broadcast aired during the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his deputy Hashem Safieddine in Beirut, both killed by Israel, he also vowed that the Iran-backed militant group would not abandon its fight.

“We will not abandon the resistance, even if our homes collapse on our heads," he said, after the group suffered its worst losses in its history last year.

Israel eliminated hundreds of the group's militants and the top echelons of its leadership, all the way to the long-time leader, Nasrallah.

Israel also destroyed swathes of the group's infrastructure during a wave of targeted strikes before the current ceasefire began in November.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei also issued a message for Nasrallah’s funeral, honoring him as a pioneering leader of the resistance whose legacy will endure.

Khamenei also praised Safieddine as a vital figure in Lebanon’s resistance, offering prayers for them and all the group's fallen fighters.

“The resistance against usurpation and oppression will continue until its goals are achieved," he added.