Israel says 7 citizens caught spying for Iran after sharing info that could “aid enemy missile attacks”

Jerusalem — Israeli police on Monday said they had arrested seven Israeli citizens accused of being a spy network gathering information on Israel’s military bases and energy infrastructure for Iranian intelligence.

The internal security agency and police “successfully dismantled a spy network involving seven Israeli citizens who were operating on behalf of Iranian intelligence,” the police said in a statement, adding that all seven had been arrested. The seven Israelis were from the city of Haifa and other northern areas of the country.

“This network was engaged in gathering sensitive information on IDF (military) bases and energy infrastructure,” it said.

Israeli investigations had revealed that the group carried out several missions under the direction of two Iranian agents known as “Alkhan and Orkhan” over a period of two years, the police said.

“The network members were aware that the intelligence they provided compromised national security and could potentially aid enemy missile attacks,” the police said. “The network conducted extensive reconnaissance missions on IDF bases nationwide, focusing on air force and navy installations, ports, Iron Dome system locations, and energy infrastructure such as the Hadera power plant.”

It added that the group received hundreds of thousands of dollars for the work, often through crypto-currency payments.

The work often involved photographing and documenting strategic sites, with the collected data being handed over to Iranian agents, the police said.

“The investigation led to seizure of substantial materials compiled by the network members for Iranian agents,” an official from Israel’s internal security agency was quoted as saying in the police statement.

“These included photographs and videos of numerous IDF bases across Israel, ports, and energy infrastructure. It is assessed that these activities have inflicted security damage on the state,” the police said.

Members of the group were also tasked with collecting intelligence on several Israeli citizens at the behest of the Iranian agents, it said.

Monday’s announcement comes just weeks after Israeli police said they had arrested an Israeli on suspicion of having been recruited by Iran to plot the assassination of top officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Over the weekend, Israeli officials said the Iran-backed group Hezbollah had targeted Netanyahu’s private residence in central Israel with a drone attack, but he and his wife were not home at the time, and there were no casualties. Israeli officials did not link the attack to the alleged Iranian espionage efforts.

Israeli media identified the man accused in the assassination plot as Mordechai Maman of the coastal city of Ashkelon. Maman was a businessman who lived in Turkey and had visited Iran, police said at the time.

Israel is currently engaged in a multi-front conflict with Iran-backed groups including Hezbollah, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Fighting on all those fronts was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, which saw militants murder some 1,200 people and take 251 others back into Gaza as hostages.

The war in Gaza alone has killed more than 42,000 people, according to the decimated Palestinian enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry, while Lebanese officials say a month of relentless Israeli airstrikes and ground operations has killed almost 2,000 people and displaced some 1.2 million from their homes.

Israel has also vowed to retaliate over a missile attack launched by Iran on October 1.