Israeli authorities have uncovered an espionage network allegedly involving a couple working for Iranian intelligence, who were gathering critical information about the infrastructure and sites such as the country’s top most intelligence agency, Mossad headquarters.
The couple from the town of Lod near Tel Aviv were not only involved in gathering intelligence about national infrastructure but also in surveillance of a female academic, Israeli police said.
“These incidents join a series of thwarted attempts, that have been revealed in recent weeks, in which Israeli citizens were arrested for working on behalf of Iranian intelligence agents and performed specific missions on their behalf,” a police source was quoted as telling by Reuters.
The investigation by authorities said that one member of the couple was assigned to monitor an academic target at Israel‘s Institute for National Security Studies think tank, while on a seperate mission was also tasked by the Iranians to find someone to carry out an assassination. Another individual, originally from Azerbaijan, was also recruited by one of the couple for specific tasks.
“While the INSS is an independent research institute, not part of Israel’s defence establishment, it is the country’s leading security research institute, and as such, Iran seeks to harm its people,” INSS director, reserve major general Tamir Hayman was quoted as telling.
Israel’s security forces said earlier this month they had broken up two separate spy rings on behalf of Iran in Jerusalem and the north of Israel.
Israel has a history of intelligence operations in Iran, allegedly including the assassination in July of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian group Hamas in a Tehran state guesthouse. Israel has made no claim of responsibility for that killing.