Mossad operated in Iran's vicinity eyeing sabotaging missile systems

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
1 Sep 2023 13:06

New details on the Mossad's espionage operation targeting Iranian missiles have surfaced.

A handout picture from Iran's Defense Ministry shows a 4th generation Khorramshahr ballistic missile being launched at an undisclosed location in Iran, on May 25, 2023 (AFP)

Details on the Israeli Mossad's failed plot to sabotage Iran's weapon industry have been revealed in a report by the Iranian state TV.

Footage aired for the first time shows booby-trapped equipment, programmed to automatically detonate via a timer when integrated into missiles.

Thousands of pieces were confiscated by authorities that foiled the Israeli intelligence plans to target Iran's missile production lines. The operation has been described as the "largest sabotage operation in Iran's history in the last 100 years."

Security experts at the Iranian Ministry of Defense confirmed that they had monitored and tacked Asian and European channels for the past four years culminating in its discovery of an espionage network and the confiscation of a thousand boody trapped pieces of equipment, which would have put thousands of Iranian missiles out of service has the plot succeeded.

A source at the Intelligence Department of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics told national Iranian TV that "over the past months, a completely professional network had plotted to bring faulty and equipped pieces into the supply chain of the production line of advanced missiles in the missile industries of the defense ministry through the cooperation of some infiltrating elements," adding that the network "fell in a trap spread by the intelligence forces at the defense ministry and it was dismantled."

Moreover, the source reaffirmed that the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, intended through the faulty parts to "turn the produced missiles into an explosive tool to hit industrial lines and employees working in that field."

In detail, the Ministry of Defense explained that "a professional network attempted to introduce pieces containing defects into the missile production cycle to be used in producing advanced missiles in the Ministry of Defense."

Significantly, the source further confirmed that the plot was "completely neutralized" and that the agents involved were all detained given that "despite the very complicated plot designed by the Zionist enemy, this action of the enemy was under intelligence and operational monitoring from the very beginning."

Mossad plot dismantled

In this context, the spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, Brigadier General Reza Talaei, revealed that components that go into defense production have increasingly become domestically produced, marking a significant shift in Iran's supply chains since 2016.

So far, 90% of Iran's defense systems, weapons, and dual-use equipment are homegrown, while the remaining 10% are imported due to cost or unavailability.

Ninety percent of the systems, weapons, and equipment have been localized as a result of this program, but the remaining 10% have not been localized yet, either because they are not economical to produce or because they are pieces readily available in the market.

"When we were supplied with these components (connectors) in those (previous) years," Mossad identified entities involved in the supply chain of these components to the Ministry of Defense.

The official continued, "They (the Mossad) conducted preliminary reconnaissance operations and approached some individuals involved in the supply process, incorporating them into their infiltration and espionage network inside and outside the country."

He explained that the Mossad network, through its presence in an undisclosed neighboring country, "identified a person who had a role in supplying this component (the connector) in 2016."

Talaei added that "after identifying this person, the Israeli network put him in contact with elements associated with this supply network in several European countries and in several East Asian countries, who had connections to clients inside Iran through several intermediaries."

The official revealed that the Mossad aims to create "malfunctions, faults, and explosions at specific timeframes, so that these pieces, once introduced into the missile systems, would explode."

The two-part connector is 7 cm long and holds several electric pins and goes into the missile's guidance system. The Mossad panted electric circuits into the component to disrupt its operation, causing temporary malfunctions that would detonate the missile or disable it, the official stated.

Furthermore, "Israel's" espionage agency was unaware of the Iranian intelligence agency's knowledge on the matter, as the operation's leaders believed they could deliver the components and bypass security protocols.

He stressed that "the important point is the discovery of the connectors by the Security Protection Organization before they were integrated into the missile systems."

The connectors have now been examined by Iranian technicians and tested in labs in which those that were rigged for espionage purposes have been reconstructed to be normally used, the Brigadier General added.

He estimates that the Iranian defense industry would have suffered around $19 million in losses if the espionage operation had succeeded. Importantly, Talaei said the Israeli agency had cooperated with unnamed intelligence agencies to complete its mission.