Attacks on Israeli military, intelligence and scientific centers in a 12-day war in June demonstrated Iran's ability to hit its enemy's critical defense infrastructure, a senior official affiliated with the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader said on Monday.
The targets included major Israeli defense contractor Rafael and research institution the Weizmann Institute of Science, said Mehdi Abbasi-Mehr, political director of the Supreme Leader’s office in Iranian universities.
“We hit the Rafael factory. Go search the internet. Rafael made $3.5 billion in profit in one year. Rafael is the manufacturer of the Iron Dome. Manufacturer of David’s Sling and Arrow 3,” Abbasi-Mehr told a public forum referring to missile interceptors.
“Everyone in the world who uses a shoulder-launched Spike bought it from Rafael.”
Missile attacks on June 16 and June 20 targeted the company's facilities in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is a key Israeli state-owned weapons manufacturer responsible for some of Israel’s most prominent missile defense platforms.
Iranian forces also targeted the Weizmann Institute of Science, added Abbasi-Mehr, who described it as “the strategic brain of Israel’s science and technology,” alleging it is key to Israel’s nuclear, missile and biological research.
The Weizmann Institute of Science was established in 1934 as a public research university in Rehovot, fourteen years before the State of Israel was founded.
A June 15 attack on what researchers have called Israel's "crown jewel of science" destroyed as many as 25 labs according to local media reports, with no public indication that defense-related projects were hit.
“They have major defense contracts,” Abbasi-Mehr said, adding that the institute’s affiliated activities are located in the Gav Yam Science and Technology Park. “We hit Gav Yam.”
The Gav Yam site, also known as the Negev Advanced Technologies Park, is a technology park founded in 2013 in Be'er Sheva, located in Israel's Negev Desert.
Abbasi-Mehr claimed additional hits on Israeli C4 command centers and Aman, the military intelligence directorate, where he said Unit 8200 — Israel’s signals and cyber intelligence division — is based.
“The footage exists,” he said. “Despite their censorship, the footage exists. And we hit all of it during the day. All of it was hit during daylight.”
His comments follow a July report by The Telegraph citing radar data from Oregon State University showing Iranian missiles struck five Israeli military facilities during the June conflict. That analysis indicated damage to an air base, a logistics hub and an intelligence site.
The Israeli military did not confirm the specific damage but said operations remained “functionally continuous.”
The 12-day war left over 1,000 Iranians dead and thousands more injured. Israel reported 29 deaths, mainly civilians, and over 3,000 wounded.
A brokered ceasefire ended the conflict after extensive drone and missile exchanges.
