Israel’s Mossad has developed one of its largest intelligence operations focused on Iran and may even intercept landline communications, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards navy said on Friday.
Hossein Alaei, the first commander of the Guards’ naval forces, said Israel had prepared its current espionage and military campaign decades ago. “The Zionist regime planned its attack on Iran twenty years ago and has concentrated one of its strongest intelligence networks on our country,” Alaei said in a televised interview, according to local media.
The conflict between Iran and Israel erupted after a surprise Israeli strike on Iranian military and nuclear sites on June 13. Tehran said 1,062 people were killed, including 786 military personnel and 276 civilians. Israel said it killed more than 30 senior Iranian security officials and 11 nuclear scientists. Iran responded with missile strikes that killed 31 civilians and one off-duty Israeli soldier.
“I believe Mossad has set up its most powerful structure anywhere in the world inside Iran,” Alaei said. “They have done all the necessary organization and spent a lot of money on it.”
Since the June war, more than 700 Iranians have been detained on charges of spying for Israel. Executions of those accused of spying for Israel have risen in recent months, with at least , according to Iranian authorities.
Alaei said Israel had combined human infiltration with advanced surveillance technology. “They have focused satellites over Iran and set up systems to gather information through all communication networks,” he said. “I think they have established facilities capable of monitoring all Iranian networks, even landlines.”
A recent documentary by Israel’s Channel 13 said one hundred Mossad operatives were deployed inside Iran to install and operate smuggled heavy missile systems. These systems were used to disable Iranian missile launchers and air-defense batteries during the opening phase of June’s 12-day war, the network reported.
The report said the agents’ operations were integral to Israel’s broader campaign against Iran’s military infrastructure.
