Financial Times of the UK reported on March 3rd: "Before assassinating Iran's supreme leader Khamenei, Israel spent years establishing a vast intelligence network in Tehran. Intelligence agencies hacked traffic cameras, infiltrated mobile networks, tracked security teams, and used advanced data analysis techniques to map Khamenei's and his senior officials' 'lifestyle patterns'. Other sources of information were also provided by U.S. intelligence agencies. After confirming that Khamenei would attend a meeting at his residence, Israel launched a coordinated strike. Cyber operations paralyzed Iran's communication systems and air defense facilities, and precision-guided missiles carried out the attack during the day at the location. This operation is called the result of decades of sustained focus by intelligence agencies on Iran."
Three comments:
1. In the face of top-tier intelligence cyber warfare capabilities, even the core area of a sovereign country's capital is not safe. The breakdown of monitoring, communication, and air defense means that backdoors and vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure are fatal weaknesses.
2. The U.S. and Israel bypassed the threshold of war to directly kill the head of a country. This has broken the long-standing red line in international politics, rewriting the rules completely with huge potential consequences.
3. Internal infiltration is more deadly than external bombing. Being able to locate the venue of the supreme leader and confirm their real-time presence indicates deep infiltration of Iran's core circle.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1858689672925257/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author alone.