According to a joint statement issued by Israel’s police and Shin Bet on Thursday, an Israeli citizen was arrested after reportedly being recruited by Iranian intelligence to plot the assassination of prominent Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“An Israeli citizen was recruited by Iranian intelligence to promote assassinations of Israeli figures. He was smuggled twice into Iran and received payment for carrying out missions,” the statement said.
It stated Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, and other high-ranking officials were among the targets.
The Israeli citizen, “a businessman who lived in Turkey for an extended period,” maintained relationships with Turkish and Iranian individuals who introduced him to an Iranian businessman named Eddie via the phone, according to the police.
According to local media, the Israeli, who is supposed to be Jewish from Ashkelon, first visited Iran in May 2024 to meet Eddie, after having “difficulty leaving” Iran.
He also met someone named Hajjah, who was identified as an Iranian security operative.
The police stated he was instructed to do security operations in Israel during this trip, including as transmitting “money or a gun,” photographing busy public locations, and threatening other Israelis recruited by Tehran.
According to the inquiry, the apprehended man was smuggled into Iran in August in a lorry. Then “he met with additional Iranian intelligence agents and was asked by them to carry out terrorist activities for Iran on Israeli soil, including promoting assassination attacks” .
Some of the proposed attacks were framed as retaliation for the July murder of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel of causing Haniyeh’s death. Israel has not commented on the tragedy.
Police said the suspect was reportedly requested to execute extra tasks, such as recruiting members of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency to work as double agents.
After asking for a $1 million advance, the Israeli individual was given 5,000 euros for taking part in the meetings and told he would be contacted in the future.
“This is a very serious case that exemplifies the enormous efforts of Iranian intelligence agents to recruit Israeli citizens to promote terrorist activities in Israel”, a senior Shin Bet official was quoted as saying.