Israel intelligence agencies expose IRGC plot targeting Israeli officials, infrastructure

Israel’s top intelligence agencies – Mossad foreign intelligence, Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet (Israel's security administration or ISA) – issued a joint statement on Monday detailing what they described as a worldwide campaign by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to assassinate Israeli officials and carry out attacks on Israeli diplomatic missions and strategic targets, including inside Israel.

The statement added that this is being revealed at this time in part due to diplomatic protests from some governments around the world over Israel’s targeting of senior IRGC officials and infrastructure as part of Operation Roaring Lion.

“This effort was accompanied by intensive Mossad activity and its partners among international security and law enforcement agencies, peaking in extensive arrests and investigations of terrorist cell members acting on behalf of the network worldwide.”

Israeli intelligence stated that one target of the IRGC campaign was the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, which transports oil and other hydrocarbons from Azerbaijan to global markets, including Israel, which receives a significant portion of its energy supply through this pipeline. The IRGC also targeted “several Jewish targets and institutions in the country, including the Israeli embassy, the synagogue in Baku, and Jewish community leaders.”

The IRGC network in Azerbaijan has reportedly been dismantled and is no longer considered an active threat. The statement added that before Azeri and Israeli authorities took them down, this cell had engaged in sophisticated surveillance and reconnaissance efforts in preparation to launch their attacks using suicide drones and other means.

However, Israel had reportedly also been monitoring the IRGC while they were engaging in these activities, providing key intelligence that enabled the precise targeting of several senior IRGC operatives inside the Islamic Republic in recent weeks.

Among those reportedly under surveillance was Rahman Moqadam, who also served as the head of the Special Operations Division (Unit 4000) within the IRGC Intelligence Organization,” according to the statement, which added that “Moqadam was struck by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) at the beginning of Operation Roaring Lion.”

Unit 4000 is described as an IRGC unit of interest to Israeli intelligence, according to the Times of Israel. The Special Operations Division is reportedly responsible for directing activities outside Iran against Israeli and Western targets, as well as efforts to smuggle advanced weaponry. The unit was previously overseen by IRGC Intelligence Organization chief Majid Khademi, who was killed in a recent airstrike. Mohsen Suri, described as a central figure in the unit’s activities, was also eliminated. Suri was said to be involved in recruiting and training operatives, often with the assistance of organized crime and narcotics trafficking networks abroad, the Times of Israel reported.

Also mentioned prominently in the statement published by the Prime Minister's Office was Mehdi Yeka-Dehqan, known as "The Doctor," who led the IRGC operations in Azerbaijan but also worked on gathering intelligence on targets in other countries, including Incirlik, the massive U.S. military base in Turkey, and also allied military bases in Cyprus and the Greek island of Crete.

The Mossad, IDF and ISA stated: “The exposure of the attack networks operated by the Iranian regime has proven time and again its distinct failure to create a space of deniability; it expresses the collapse of the Iranian mode of operation, which strives to carry out terrorism in isolation from Iran in order to avoid the political, legal, and economic consequences it might otherwise pay."

The statement concluded that, together with their partners in intelligence and security agencies worldwide, the intelligence agencies "will continue to act tirelessly and with determination to thwart terrorist threats in Israel and abroad by Iran and its proxies.”

Although the statement did not directly address the Iranian regime's activity inside Israel, recent media reports have documented arrests of individuals accused of acting on behalf of Iran and attempting to conduct surveillance on IDF bases and government buildings. Police statements indicate that several related investigations are ongoing, and further arrests are possible. The public has been urged to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity.