Category World News

The Israeli press reported that Israel’s recent targeting of key military positions and leaders in Iran was the result of intelligence operations.

An Israeli intelligence agency, which is alleged to have infiltrated much of Iran’s security apparatus, is responsible for the strikes that destroyed a large portion of its key defensive infrastructure and killed military commanders.

Numerous people have reportedly been detained and accused of spying for Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, supporting Israel in the media, or infuriating the general public.

To prevent Israeli hackers from stealing sensitive communications, the Iranian government recently instructed senior officials and their security teams to avoid using smartphones connected to the internet. Meanwhile, it is believed that Iranian security services have reportedly asked the public to report any buildings they’ve rented to businesses or individuals over the past few years.

How extensive has the infiltration been, and how long has it been planning, and what has been characterized as an unprecedented Israeli intelligence operation that led to its recent strikes on Iran?

How significant a part did Israeli intelligence play in the country’s initial counterattacks?

a significant one.

Shortly after Israel launched its attacks on Iran, reports of intelligence operations that came before the “unprecedented” attack began to surface. Details about how both human intelligence and AI were used to carry out the attack, which senior members of Israel’s intelligence community claimed hampered a large portion of Iran’s air defenses, were revealed in interviews with senior officials.

The Associated Press published interviews with 10 Israeli intelligence and military officials who were aware of the strike on June 17 and shortly after.

Sima Shine, the former Mossad research director, told the AP, “This attack is the culmination of years of work by the Mossad to target Iran’s nuclear program.” Additionally, the article provided details on how Israeli agents were able to smuggle a number of drones and missile systems into Iran, which were then used to attack numerous targets created by a US AI model based on information that Israeli agents had provided to it from previous strikes.

Are there still intelligence operations?

They appear to be.

Saeed Izadi and Behnam Shahryari, two senior officers in Iran’s Quds force, were found dead over the weekend, according to Israel’s claim that its intelligence networks had located them.

Major-General Ali Shademani was found and killed by Israel on June 17; that was just four days after his predecessor was killed in a targeted airstrike.

A target would have to completely rid themselves of any electronic devices that could connect to the internet in order to avoid detection, according to Israeli military intelligence specialist Miri Eisin, who spoke to The Observer in the United Kingdom. She said that “most people don’t take themselves out of the grid.” You can reach anyone, they say.

According to defense analyst Hamze Attar from Luxembourg, “Israel likely has around 30 to 40 cells operating inside of Iran,” the majority of which are made up of collaborators, rather than Israeli agents, which also contributes to Iran’s weakening, he said, citing assembly instructions found on the hardware that was seized by authorities.

He said that some of those cells will be accountable for bringing weapons into Israel, others for carrying out attacks, and others for gathering intelligence.

How long has this been occurring?

Israeli intelligence operations inside Iran are not recent. According to analysts, operations designed to monitor, infiltrate, sabotage, and undermine Iranian defenses date back to the 1979 Iranian revolution.

Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, acknowledged the scope of Israeli operations in Iran in a speech released in November 2024, telling ISNA news agency that the “problem of infiltration had become very serious in recent years.”

The former parliamentary speaker and nuclear negotiator continued, “There have been some instances of negligence for years.”

The Israeli-led Lebanese rebel group Hezbollah only gained access to its supply chain after its infiltration by Israeli intelligence in September 2024, allowing the group to detonate communication devices. Hassan Nasrallah, its leader, was killed in the same manner after Israeli agents found out where he was hiding. Similar plots were employed in the Hamas political leader’s assassination in Tehran in July of that year when an explosive device placed in his residence a few weeks prior to his death exploded.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed by a remote-controlled gun mounted on the back of a pick-up truck in the past 20 years by Israel. The Stuxnet computer virus, which was thought to have infected 30, 000 computers across at least 14 Iranian nuclear facilities, was also caused by Israel.

Does Iran have an Israeli spy agency?

Absolutely.

Seven Israeli citizens were detained in late October on suspicion of spying for Iran, according to Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet. Authorities in Haifa had earlier detained a further group of seven people on suspicion of aiding Iran’s intelligence ministry during the war.

According to Israeli police sources at the time, additional covert networks with Iran-linked connections may exist there.

Why do we know so much about this covert operation?

Because, in the opinion of analysts, publicity can also be a valuable addition to an intelligence agency’s toolkit.

While gaining points at home from other countries, revealing the extent to which a foreign nation’s security infrastructure can be compromised and infiltrated undermines that nation’s morale.

Iran has targeted its military assets in the Middle East in response to the United States’ direct involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict.

According to Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, bases “in the region or elsewhere” could be attacked in retaliation for US attacks the day before.

As Iran attacked Qatar’s largest military base in the Middle East, Al Udeid Air Base, explosions erupted over Doha later that evening as they sounded.

What is the complete Al Udeid information:

Al Udeid, who is he?

The US’s biggest military base in the region, Al Udeid, is located 120 kilometers south of Iran’s border along the Gulf.

The 24-hectare (60-acre) base, which is located in the desert near Doha, serves as the US Central Command’s front office, which oversees US military operations in a sizable area of territory that extends from Egypt to Kazakhstan in the east.

The Qatar Emiri Air Force, the US Air Force, the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom, and other international organizations are housed there.

It houses around 10, 000 troops.

Al Udeid’s “long, well-maintained runways enable rapid deployment, making it a crucial component of US force projection,” according to a Washington, DC-based newspaper earlier this year.

Qatar’s involvement in Al Udeid “has kept it at the forefront of military readiness while saving US taxpayers billions of dollars,” according to The Hill. Qatar spent more than $ 8 billion on infrastructure upgrades over the years, according to the report.

The base has participated in numerous humanitarian missions, including the 2021 evacuation of Kabul, and has been a key player in air campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

What makes it news?

In response to Iranian threats, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that it had temporarily closed its airspace.

According to the ministry, “the competent authorities announce the temporary suspension of air traffic in the nation’s airspace as part of a series of precautionary measures taken in response to developments in the region.”

The US and UK embassies in Qatar were forced to close several hours after the statement that there was “an abundance of caution” was made available to the country’s citizens.

A Western diplomat claimed there had been a credible Iranian threat against Al Udeid since Monday at noon, according to a Reuters citation later.

Qatar’s defense minister, who was cited by Al Jazeera in that evening, claimed that the nation’s air defenses had intercepted missiles fired at Al Udeid.

Al Udeid had the attack in mind.

The US appears to have started taking precautionary measures before attacking Iran’s nuclear sites.

Hundreds of US military aircraft were no longer on the tarmac at the base, according to news agency AFP, who based its assessment on satellite images that Planet Labs PBC had provided. US President Donald Trump was considering direct involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict.

On June 5, nearly 40 military aircraft, including transport planes like the Hercules C-130 and reconnaissance planes, were parked on the tarmac at the base, the Pentagon’s Central Command’s regional headquarters. However, three aircraft could only be seen in an image taken on June 19th.

Aircraft that were not in hardened shelters, according to a US official who spoke to Reuters. Additionally, he claimed that US Navy vessels have been moved from Bahrain, where the country’s fifth fleet is based.

The official continued, “It is not a common practice.” The priority is foregoing force protection.

Was Al Udeid a target of US nuclear attacks?

No.

B-2 bombers were reportedly heading to Guam, which was a ruse, prior to the US attack on nuclear sites on Sunday.

Seven B-2 stealth bombers left Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, United States, at 00:01 EDT (04:01 GMT), as all eyes were directed West, reportedly. The top-secret flights directly reached Iran over the Atlantic.

In the US offensive against Iran, none of the US bases in the Middle East were deployed.

How has Qatar responded to Al-Udeid’s attack?

Qatar called the air base attack a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty and blasted it.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ attack on Al Udeid Air Base is a flagrant violation of international law, according to Majed Al-Ansari, a spokesman for the foreign ministry.

The impact of US military strikes on Iran may overshadow efforts to satisfy US President Donald Trump’s demand for a significant new defense spending goal as NATO leaders gather in The Hague on Tuesday.

At their two-day gathering starting on Tuesday, Trump has rebuffed their demand that NATO allies commit to donating 5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) to defense.

Despite Trump’s previous criticism of the alliance, the summit is intended to admonish Russia’s desire to expand and strengthen its defenses in order to deter any attack from Moscow.

The new defense spending pledge, according to NATO chief Mark Rutte, must be made in order for the alliance to deter Russia on Monday.

A new baseline, 5 percent of GDP, will be invested in defense, according to Rutte, the defense investment plan that allies will agree in The Hague.

This is a “quantum leap that is ambitious, historic, and fundamental to securing our future,” he says.

The summit is much less predictable than Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister who hosted the gathering in his hometown, and other NATO member countries would like, due to the US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend.

NATO was deeply divided by the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, with France and Germany leading the charge in the coalition while Britain and Spain joined the coalition.

The summit’s agenda may include Ukraine, but European allies and Canada are concerned that Trump might not want Volodymyr Zelenskyy to take the place of President.

Iran raises the bar for uncertainty

When the summit is held, a lot will depend on the specifics of the Middle East, such as whether Iran has threatened to attack the US or whether other NATO leaders speak out about the strikes with Trump or make comments to reporters.

Rutte claimed to the media on Monday that Iranian over-the-workday strikes did not violate international law.

Kimberly Halkett, a spokesperson for Al Jazeera, reported that European leaders are currently focused on diplomacy as a means of de-escalation and preventing Iran from possessing nuclear weapons. Diplomacy becomes more difficult due to an increase in fighting, including Iran’s Monday targeting of a US military base in Qatar.

According to Halkett, “That is a task that has become much more challenging to accomplish because of the recent escalation,” according to Halkett, a journalist in Washington, DC.

Hashem Ahelbarra, a journalist for Al Jazeera, stated from The Hague that Rutte is “blaming the Iranians for failing to come out with the international community and the IAEA.”

A dangerous time for NATO

NATO runs the risk of appearing weak and divided if the meeting doesn’t go according to plan, just as its European members are concerned about Russia’s greatest threat since the Cold War, and they are prepared for possible cuts in US troop on the continent.

Putin refuted NATO’s claims that Russia might one day attack a member of the alliance as lies used by Western powers to justify extensive military spending on Monday.

Countries would spend 3.5% of GDP on “core defence,” such as weapons and troops, and a further 1.5% on security-related investments, such as upgrading roads, ports, and bridges for military vehicles, protecting pipelines, and deterring cyberattacks, according to the new NATO defense spending plan.

A decrease in spending on defense would result in hundreds of billions of dollars more, which would be phased out over ten years.

According to Ahelberra, “the reason they’re doing this is that when Trump comes to the Hague, they’ll tell him to “Listen, we’ve been listening to your concerns,” and so they’ve decided to stick to the 5-percent benchmark you’ve been talking about for a while.

Trump has long argued that Europe should shoulder more of the cost and military responsibilities of defending their continent.

Despite Madrid claiming it had agreed to avoid reaching the headline figure of 5%, Rutte claimed on Monday that Spain had not been given an “opt-out” from the pledge.

According to NATO estimates, alliance members collectively spent about $ 2.6 billion on core defense in the last year, or $1.3 trillion. The US, which spent almost $ 818 billion, made up the majority of the expenditure.

Ahelberra stated that the leaders of the European Union “want to persuade Trump that NATO is taking into account his demands, but they’re looking forward to being able to persuade him to keep working with the military allies to address a number of issues, particularly Ukraine.”