The Iran and Israel intelligence war has been the center of attention of the global media for several years. The primary reason for this is the ongoing skirmishes going on between them. While the whole world is more focused on the drone and retaliation attacks against each other, there is also a silent information war going on behind that has less of the media’s attention. They are involved in a long-standing information warfare comprised of propaganda, cyberattacks, espionage, and disinformation movements. These attempts are made to destabilize each other’s power position in the Middle East and make the opponent strategically weak.
The last days of October 2024 marked a heavy day for Iran as seven Israelis were arrested on the allegations of operating an espionage operation on behalf of Iran. A day before the arrest, seven spies were already arrested on the grounds of the same accusation. According to Israeli sources, there are a plethora of Iranian sleeping cells present in the country that need to be seized at their earliest. These operations are not new. In September, an Israeli businessman named Moti Maman was also accused of gathering Israel’s intelligence on behalf of Iran. He was also accused of attempting to kill Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli high-profile officials for $1 million.
Iran’s ability to spread disinformation effectively has recently come to light. It is famous for making fake accounts and spreading fake news. According to reports, a page named “Tears of War” was created for this very reason. This page was mainly against Netanyahu. It had posts criticizing his policies and his way of dealing with Hamas. Another page named “KarMa” was found where posts on Netanyahu’s resignation were found. All these profiles were said to be created by the Iranian intelligence agency.
Not only is Iran involved in active espionage, but there is also an evident presence of Israel in intelligence breach activities in Iran. In December 2023, Iran captured and executed three men and women in espionage activities. These individuals were also involved in kidnapping Iranian officials on the orders of Israel. The pager attacks in Lebanon also raised significant questions about Israel’s involvement. In light of this, Iran arrested 12 individuals who were said to be involved in this attack on behalf of Israel.
In October, a scandal was also aired on TV channels where US intelligence papers were leaked. The paper contains critical information on Israel’s planned aerial attacks against Israel. The official papers were leaked on Telegram. These leaks caused a massive perturbance in the White House. In investigating if the leaks were genuine or not, it was found that the leaked papers were authentic because they started with the heading “Top Secret” followed by “FGI,” which stands for “Foreign Government Intelligence.” Numerous keywords are used in the document that refer to the authenticity of the leaked papers. The intelligence was gathered on 15-16 October by the US agencies based on satellite imagery.
A famous scandal of Stuxnet also attempts to explain Israel’s rigorous efforts to undermine Iran in every possible way. The virus was founded in 2010 and established by Israel in collaboration with the United States. Development of this virus began in early 2005 under the presidency of Bush and continued until the presidency of Barack Obama. The cyberattack program was launched to halt the Iranian nuclear program. The Stuxnet worm was given the name of “Operation Olympic Games.” The computer worm was designed to slow down/derail uranium processing machines known as centrifuges. These machines work in a way that separates the nuclear useful material of uranium from the rest. The system works by spinning. When installed in the system, the Stuxnet worm shows that the spinning usually happens, but inside, it spreads its virus by stopping or slowing it. Due to this virus, Iran’s nuclear program was slowed down. The program that was supposed to be completed early had to face a two-year delay. The attack was executed in the Natanz Facility Center.
In 2021, Israel attacked the Natanaz Nuclear Facility, where the centrifuge was placed. This attack was also declared as “nuclear terrorism” by the Iranian media. The concerned Iranian authorities also proclaimed that they would replace the uranium system with an even stronger one. The uranium enrichment will increase from 20% to 60%, which is a huge jump. This percentage is also equal to the 90% uranium required to formulate a nuclear bomb. Although no one has claimed responsibility for this attack, according to Israel’s media, it was done through a systematic cyberattack Mossad operation. This example shows how a high-profile cyberattack operation can cause damage to sensitive infrastructure.
In April 2020, Iran executed a cyberattack on Israeli water facilities. The hackers went into the water facility’s system and dangerously increased the chlorine levels. Had it not been prevented in a timely manner, the attack would have affected multiple districts in Israel and caused a health crisis in the state. Although there is no evidence that Iranian hackers executed the attack, Israel blames them for this.
In retaliation, Israel launched a cyberattack on Iran’s Shahid Rajaee Port that caused massive trade and economic consequences. Numerous satellite images show the highway’s long traffic lines leading to the port. The Israeli authorities executed a systematic attack on the port’s computer system that caused a shutdown of one of Iran’s significant ports. It is also said that the attack was executed from the US and European computer servers.
Since 2004, it has been the primary goal of Israel’s intelligence agencies to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear power, and for this purpose, Israel has gone to many extents. In 2007, they started searching for those people who were involved in Iran’s nuclear program. Since every nuclear expert worked for a top official named Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Israel was intensely searching for him.
Fakharzadeh used to receive many death threats from Israel, and Iran’s security agencies have constantly warned him of the dangers, but he brushed them off and always wanted to live a normal life. In 2020, Mossad officers tried to assassinate Fakharzadeh with the help of a car parked close to Absard, a place where all the elite officials of Iran have villas. The vehicle was installed with a machine gun, and after being signaled from 1000 miles away from the man himself, Israel’s top intelligence agency tried to kill the nuclear mastermind of Iran.
Such incidents show how deep-rooted the information war has been going on between Iran and Israel for a very long time. Because of this warfare, so many people have lost their lives, including bright minds like Fakharzadeh. Still, the media is only focused on what is going on the ground instead of on how dangerous information warfare between states is. It is equally harmful and has profound implications for global security.
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The views and opinions expressed in this article/paper are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Paradigm Shift.
Minahil Baig is currently pursuing her master's degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from NUST. Her areas of interest include conflict management, defence studies, artificial intelligence, and modern warfare.