Iranian-born Israeli indicted on suspicion of spying for Iran
An Israeli citizen of Iranian origin has been charged with espionage, accused of passing sensitive details about Israeli war plans to an Iranian intelligence operative.
An Israeli citizen of Iranian origin has been charged with espionage, accused of passing sensitive details about Israeli war plans to an Iranian intelligence operative.
He is accused of revealing the identity of an Iranian sailor on an oil tanker who allegedly aided Israel, disclosing Israeli military strike plans and commando missions, providing drone flight paths from Azerbaijan into Iran, and confirming that Israel’s Nevatim Air Base was hit during Iran’s April missile barrage last year.
The unnamed suspect was arrested earlier in July, and the Attorney General's Office requested that his detention be extended until the end of the proceedings.
He moved to Israel in 1999 and according to court documents, rekindled ties to his birthplace over a decade later on a trip to Turkey, when he visited the Iranian embassy.
According to the prosecutors’ report, he later began a relationship with an Iranian woman who introduced him to Iranian operatives, whom he met in September during a visit to see her in Turkey.
As with previous cases brought before the courts in Israel, the accused maintained contact with the agents through Telegram.
In May, just one month before Israel’s surprise attacks on Iran, the defendant told his Iranian contact that Israel planned to carry out an attack in Iran. He later updated the agent that Israel was planning a commando operation targeting the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.
The attorney's office said that "his dangerousness is heightened in light of the period in which he committed the offenses, during which war is being waged in the State of Israel on several fronts in general and with Iran in particular, and while missiles were being fired at Israel from Iran."
This month, two additional espionage cases were revealed. Indictments were filed against an Israeli soldier who passed information to the Iranians in exchange for money—including imagery of Iranian missile landings and impacts in Israel—and a teacher from the Bedouin community in the Negev who filmed fighter jet takeoffs.
More than 25 cases of Iranian recruitment attempts have been reported by Israeli security authorities over the last year, with over 35 indictments against Israeli citizens filed.
It has led Israeli authorities to launch a campaign earlier in july urging citizens to resist the lure of spying for Iran amid the surge in efforts by Tehran to recruit Israelis for espionage.
Iran’s judiciary chief said last week that around 2,000 people were arrested during and after the 12-day war with Israel, with some detainees accused of collaborating with the Jewish state potentially facing the death penalty.
