How Did Iran's Intelligence Agency Infiltrate Israel's Most Sensitive Facilities
Iran's intelligence agency successfully infiltrated the "core禁区" of Israel's nuclear program - a secret research center in Dimona, and obtained "millions of pages of valuable intelligence." What methods did Iran's intelligence agency use? How did they obtain this highly classified information, even recruiting agents within Israel?
Iran's Intelligence Minister Ismail Khatib stated that Iran's intelligence agency has acquired a complete "intelligence treasure trove" of Israel's nuclear facilities and military facilities, as well as lists of scientists and military personnel involved in nuclear weapons development. "The reality is that after a complex operation, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) special unit successfully infiltrated a secret facility in Israel," reported Iran's SNN TV.
In fact, as early as July 10, Iran had indirectly mentioned the possibility of its agents infiltrating Israel's nuclear facilities and obtaining confidential documents, but detailed information obviously remained in processing for some time afterward. Khatib pointed out that many Israelis voluntarily cooperated with Iran's intelligence agency, either for money or out of hatred for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The 'intelligence treasure trove' returned to Iran contains millions of pages of various valuable information related to the Zionist regime (here refers to Israel - note from "Viewpoint" newspaper)."
These documents cover data on past and current weapon projects of the regime, information on the modernization and reprocessing of old nuclear weapons, information on cooperation projects with the United States and some European countries, as well as complete information on the administrative structure and personnel involved in nuclear weapons development," he further added.
The head of Iran's intelligence department said that they have obtained the names, personal information, and addresses of 189 Israeli experts in the nuclear and military fields, and also mastered the coordinates of several dual-use secret facilities - these facilities were destroyed by Iranian missiles during the so-called "12-day war" between Iran and Israel in June. In addition, he stated that all personnel who participated in operations within Israel have "safely returned," and the documents returned to Tehran have "strategic, practical, research, and scientific" multiple values.
This incident involves a nuclear research center facility near the town of Dimona in the Negev Desert. From an official perspective, the Dimona nuclear center belongs to the Weizmann Institute. However, according to the published video, it seems that Iranian intelligence personnel also successfully infiltrated the Weizmann Institute.
In the video materials released by Iranian state media, different levels of classified documents (mainly in English), scanned Israeli passports, identity cards and work permits of researchers and staff at the Dimona Center, technical documents and design drawings, and photos of different areas inside the Dimona Center, including the reactor hall are shown. In one photo, shelves with the "well-known centrifuges" used for uranium enrichment can be clearly seen.
Notably, these materials also include a large number of private photos of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, mostly family photos. Judging from the nature of the photos, they could only be obtained from devices used by Grossi himself. One photo shows Grossi kissing a person dressed in a Mickey Mouse costume. This photo was likely taken at a children's morning event, and the person wearing the cartoon mouse costume should be one of Grossi's daughters.
The video also includes staged footage of the surrounding areas of Dimona, as well as dynamic footage shot at the so-called "secret hiding places" by the intelligence department - in the footage, an Iranian agent is placing some storage media in the bushes.
So far, Israel has not made any response to this matter, despite having enough time to prepare a response.
Evidently, this event is of milestone significance. Previously, Iran's intelligence activities within Israel were mostly of a "semi-amateur" nature.
These activities mainly involved using instant messaging software to recruit unstable underage students. Occasionally, they could also recruit some couples, both Jews and citizens of other ethnic groups in Israel.
The Israeli Security Agency ("Shabak") has contradictory statements. In different reports, "Shabak" stated that the number of Iranian agents arrested in the past year varied between 20 and even 30 (all Israeli citizens). For example, last December, authorities arrested a couple from a village in the Golan Heights (who were responsible for monitoring the movement of the Israeli army), and called this arrest a "major event."
At the same time, senior Shabak official Shalom Ben-Hanan stated that the number of Jewish citizens working for Iran is "shocking." At least two people accused of espionage for Iran came from the ultra-orthodox community.
However, it needs to be clarified that these two people were actually two teenagers - they desperately wanted to break free from the constraints of the ultra-orthodox community (in which even mobile phones are prohibited). Eventually, these "rebellious" individuals secretly bought mobile phones and installed certain instant messaging software on them. Iranian intelligence personnel disguised themselves under female pseudonyms and contacted them through these software. It is difficult to regard this event as a major victory for Iran's intelligence agency, more like a curiosity. In addition, those recruited included a military deserter and a man accused of sexual crimes. Overall, the main activities of these "agents" were to paint anti-government graffiti, burn cars, and distribute leaflets, with an average payment of $5,000 per operation.
"Shabak" emphasized that Iran is also trying to recruit (or has tried to recruit) Israeli citizens living in the United States and Canada, and for some reason, the main target is Jewish immigrants from the Caucasus region.
One of the 30-year-old recruitment targets, Vladimir Viktorson, also lured his 18-year-old cohabiting girlfriend Anna Bernstein into working for Iran. Initially, the two just painted graffiti, but later even agreed to assassinate an Israeli political figure. Authorities arrested them while they were purchasing a sniper rifle. Another 35-year-old recruitment target, Vladimir Verkhovsky, also took a similar path: first painting graffiti, then agreeing to assassinate an Israeli nuclear scientist for a reward of $100,000.
What was exposed this time, however, is a truly large-scale, high-standard intelligence operation conducted by Iran within Israel. The ability to infiltrate the highest-level classified nuclear facilities and collect long-term information about the personnel and operations of the facility is a significant achievement, even for world-class intelligence agencies, let alone for Iran.
Evidently, the internal political situation in Israel provided important assistance. The internal division of Israeli society is constantly intensifying, and it is now much easier to find people dissatisfied with Netanyahu personally and with Tel Aviv's policy of escalating the war in Gaza than it was ten years ago. However, it needs to be emphasized that the Dimona nuclear facility is located in the desert, a secluded place, and the Israeli counter-intelligence department implements 24-hour strict monitoring here. However, judging from the nature of the materials exposed by Iran, both the staff of the Weizmann Institute and the personnel of the Dimona nuclear center were involved in this intelligence operation.
Additionally, previously, Iran has always accused Israel and Western countries of embedding a large number of intelligence agents in Grossi's team, and that the IAEA inspection teams are filled with spies. But now the situation has reversed: Iran has successfully gained access to Grossi's personal devices - and currently, Grossi is running for the position of UN Secretary-General. This incident fully exposes the serious negligence of this senior official.
It also needs to be clarified that the IAEA cannot access the Dimona nuclear facility in Israel. Israel has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, does not cooperate with the IAEA, and does not allow foreign observers to enter the Dimona nuclear facility - although it has always demanded maximum transparency from Iran. Only after the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2013, under public pressure, Israel allowed international observers to enter one of its nuclear facilities within the country, but not Dimona, but rather the old reactor in Nekar Soreq built by the United States in 1955. And at that time, the observers' task was not to check for centrifuges used to produce plutonium, but to check the overall ecological safety conditions.
Dimona nuclear facility producing weapons-grade plutonium is an open secret. However, according to Israel's long-standing practice, the country usually neither confirms nor denies such issues, but responds with questions. In fact, the political significance of Iran infiltrating the Dimona nuclear facility lies precisely in directly proving that Israel has the capability to produce weapons-grade plutonium on an industrial scale. This is not only a heavy blow to the reputation of Israel's counter-intelligence department, but also a severe blow to the image of the entire Israeli nation.
However, it is easy to predict that the Israeli side will either remain silent or, when asked about the issue of Dimona centrifuges, once again deliver speeches about anti-Semitism and the Holocaust to the whole world. Therefore, Iran now must focus on consolidating the publicity effect of this operation - this is indeed its first successful intelligence operation within Israel. Otherwise, all efforts may go to waste.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7554258955589993003/
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