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Israel Secretly Recruited Iranian Dissidents to Attack Their Country

(ProPublica) Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv - On June 13, teams of Israeli-trained commandos recruited from Iran and neighboring nations attacked Iranian defenses from within. Some 70 commandos opened fire with drones and missiles on anti-aircraft batteries and ballistic missile launchers. The next day, another group of Iranians and others launched a second wave of attacks inside Iran. Ten present and former Israeli intelligence officials said the attacks were pivotal in allowing Israel's air force to carry out wave after wave of bombing runs without losing a single plane. The attack had been planned for more than a year by Israel's Mossad intelligence service. While for years, missions in Iran had been the exclusive work of Israeli field operatives, the agents in Iran were not Israelis. Officials said the growing unpopularity of the Iranian regime has made it much easier to attract agents. Some were seeking revenge against a repressive, clerical regime that had imposed strict limits on political expression and daily life. Others were enticed by cash, the promise of medical care for family members or opportunities to attend college overseas. In 2000, the Mossad discovered that the Iranians were building a secret uranium enrichment plant near Natanz. The agency tipped off an Iranian dissident group, which went public with the revelation two years later. Mossad veterans said that operatives - likely Israelis posing as Europeans installing or servicing equipment - walked around Natanz wearing shoes with double soles that collected dust and soil samples. Testing revealed that the Iranian centrifuges were enriching uranium well beyond the 5% level needed for a nuclear power plant.
2025-08-10 00:00:00
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