Alwaght- As Iran under True Promise I and II operations with its powerful missiles destroyed the empty legend of Iron Dome air defense system, this time its intelligence dealt a strategic blow to the much-vaunted Israeli security and intelligence apparatus.
Official reports of Iranian intelligence accessing top-secret Israeli documents have seriously rattled the Israeli intelligence structure, leaving the Israeli security and media circles reacting with shock.
The details of the operation have not yet been clearly disclosed, and only trivial information have been leaked to the media. The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting announced on Saturday that the Iranian intelligence service has obtained a large amount of strategic and sensitive information and documents from the Israeli regime, including thousands of documents related to the regime’s nuclear plans and facilities. Informed Iranian sources have stated that due to the abundance of documents, reviewing them and viewing images and videos will take a long time.
The publication of outlines of Iran’s successful operation deep inside the occupied territories comes after Israel's Internal Security Agency (Shinbet) and the Israeli police claimed in a statement two weeks ago that they had arrested “Roy Mizrahi” and “Elmog Atias,” both 24 years old, from Nesher in northern Haifa, on charges of collaborating with Iran.
The two young men are accused of installing cameras in a town where Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is living.
The prosecutor in this case claimed that the Iranian agents paid the two spies using cryptocurrencies and that they had used this money to purchase equipment such as phones, cameras, and SIM cards, and used them according to the instructions of the Iranian agents using encryption and remote control applications.
Coverage of Iranian operation by Israeli media
The news drew massive coverage on Hebrew media. Maariv newspaper, saying that Iran has stolen secret Israeli nuclear documents, pointed to the deep concern of Tel Aviv about the data leakage.
The Israeli Channel 12 reported that Iran had managed to steal thousands of security and secret documents, describing the move as a “painful blow.”
The Walla news website published a picture of the Dimona power plant and wrote that the released documents contain extremely sensitive information about Israel’s nuclear projects. The scope and quality of the documents indicate a great influence on Israel and it is expected that their review will take a considerable amount of time. According to the Hebrew-language media outlet, one of the reasons for Israel’s threat and declaration of readiness to attack Iran is related to this issue.
The Israel Hayom newspaper reported that the stolen files include very sensitive documents from Israel’s nuclear program.
Israeli analysts believe that this move was made in response to the theft of Iran’s nuclear archive by Mossad in 2018. Some sources, including Al-Mayadeen news network, reported that this move will have major consequences and may lead to the dismissal of the Mossad chief.
Iran's power to infliterste top- secret security layers of Israel
This intelligence operation by Iran is not just a tactical success but a part of a major strategy followed in recent years.
According to available documents, Tehran has also managed to infiltrate Tel Aviv's intelligence systems in the past through various methods. For example, in November 2013, the hacking group "Black Shadow" managed to access data of thousands of Israeli citizens from the servers of a hosting company.
In January 2013, the media reported that the Iranian group "Cyber Storm" hacked and stole information from 49 Israeli companies. Haaretz confirmed in March 2014 that Iranian hackers had managed to infiltrate tens of thousands of documents belonging to the police, the Ministry of Internal Security, and Israeli security companies.
But now Iran has moved from purely technical infiltration to a stage where it is designing and implementing intelligence operations based on a combination of human resources and cyber power. As in November last year, the Hebrew media announced that some Israeli citizens had transferred information into Iran.
Maariv wrote at the time under the title “Spies in the Service of Iran,” that "among the actions of the infiltrators was collecting information about military bases and installations and sending them in exchange for hundreds of thousands of shekels.”
The Jerusalem Post claimed at the time that “seven Israelis were arrested on charges of spying for Iran and providing information about army bases. These seven individuals have carried out about 600 missions for Iran, including collecting information on sensitive military and infrastructure sites and identifying potential human targets for Iran.”
With this in mind, Iran has been able to establish a new level of intelligence power by combining cyber operations and human resources and bringing the Israeli regime’s security apparatus face to face with unprecedented challenges.
These types of information are held in the highest level of classification and accessing them takes deep cyber or human infiltration of the Israeli security layers. So, the Iranian operation demonstrates the high intelligence maturity and the power to design and execute most complicated infiltration projects.
Actually, with this action, Iran sent a strategic message to its enemies that the era of Tel Aviv’s intelligence superiority is over and regional equations are being redefined. Now, any offensive or even defensive action by the occupying regime must be taken with this supposition that Iran will not only be informed about it, but may also counter it accurately and intelligently.
From a strategic perspective, Iran has not only taken possession of sensitive information with this action, but also has taken the psychological and media initiative. Tel Aviv, which usually tries to demonstrate its extensive information influence in Iran and the region through operations such as the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the pager blasts in Lebanon, showed with this great failure that these claims were merely media exaggeration and if there was extensive information influence, the operations of Iranian intelligence agencies should have been exposed. Therefore, now the regime itself is exposed to a crisis of internal trust. This influence has effectively shifted the balance of intelligence power in the region in favor of Tehran and bolstered Iran's strategic deterrence.
Collapse of Israeli security
At a time the Israelis claim their intelligence systems are among the world's most impenetrable ones, penetration of this extent shows that this is just a political demonstrative picture of Israel and the reality on the ground is otherwise. This Iranian infiltration showed that Israel's security structure is not only penetrable, but also is incapable of predicting and deterring sophisticated intelligence threats.
What exacerbates this vulnerability is the economic crisis caused by the Gaza war, which has imposed heavy costs on the regime and its citizens. According to official reports from central bank, the Gaza war has cost the regime's economy more than $67 billion.
Slowing economic growth, rising unemployment, the erosion of financial infrastructure, and pressure on the military and security budget have led to a decrease in contentment and motivation among security and military personnel, creating more space for foreign influence than ever before.
A recent poll by the Israel Democracy Institute suggested that one in five Israelis who evacuated from the area around Gaza or Lebanon have lost their jobs. 39 percent of them have not yet returned to their homes, and about 34 percent of households have experienced a decrease in income, with this figure rising to 44 percent in the northern occupied territories.
In this highly strained economic and social environment, Tel Aviv's security structures are facing a serious challenge. Therefore, employees who are under economic, psychological and social pressure are more vulnerable to financial offers or information threats, as some may go along with external offers or engage in covert cooperation to maintain their livelihoods. The decline in protective care is also due to constant pressures and employee fatigue, and these conditions open the way for external influence, which was previously considered difficult or impossible.
A combination of long war, economic crisis, and strategic weakness in management of intelligence sources has left the Israeli security structure struggling with erosion from within. Intelligently taking advantage of this situation, Iran has shown that true battleground goes beyond embankments and direct military clashes. Obtaining Israel's secret documents does not only represent Iran's intelligence success, but also sets off the alarm bells to a regime that has been claiming impenetrablity but it is now vulnerable to its foes.
As a result, the leaders of Tel Aviv—who have a longstanding practice of suppressing news and concealing military and intelligence failures from the media—may once again dismiss reports of Iran obtaining classified documents or attempt to downplay their significance through deliberate silence. However, the sheer volume and sensitivity of the compromised information are so substantial that the repercussions will soon reverberate through the highest echelons of the Israeli regime’s security apparatus. So, the potential dismissal or resignation of senior Mossad officials represents just one facet of the domestic fallout from this scandal, which further exposes the vulnerabilities within Tel Aviv’s security framework.
In general, Iran obtaining top-secret Israeli information should be dealt with as a turning point in the history of intelligence battles in the region. This feat is not only indicative of Iran's intelligence maturity, but also bears witness to the burgeoning weaknesses in Israel's security and social structures. Strategic message of this Iranian intelligence triumph is that the time of Israeli intelligence monopoly is gone and Tehran had risen as a key regional intelligence player.
