by Jerusalem Post Staff
Israeli security officials have said that these phone calls were part of a “broad covert action campaign” against Iran, in addition to the military attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites.
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Hours after Israel began Operation Rising Lion, Israeli intelligence operatives began an intimidation campaign against some of Iran’s senior officials, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing three people familiar with the operation and a recording.
The intimidation campaign reportedly aimed to destabilize the Iranian regime.
Persian speakers, allegedly working for Israel’s security service, called senior Iranian officials that they would be targeted for assassination if they failed to discontinue support for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It is estimated that around 20 officials were targeted.
In one recording obtained by the Washington Post, an Israeli intelligence official reportedly told a senior Iranian general: “I can advise you now, you have 12 hours to escape with your wife and child. Otherwise, you’re on our list right now…We’re closer to you than your own neck vein. Put this in your head. May God protect you.”
The general reportedly survived the war, although Israeli operatives claimed that others targeted did not during the calls.
Covert campaign and military strikes
Israeli security officials have said that these phone calls were part of a “broad covert action campaign” against Iran, in addition to the military attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites, weapons production facilities, and missile launchers.In the initial hours of the attack on Iran, the IDF successfully targeted and killed several top officials, including Maj.-Gen. Hossein Salami, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and Maj.-Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, the Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff.
In one phone call, the Israeli intelligence official mentioned these assassinations: "I’ll explain to you, listen carefully. I’m calling from a country that two hours ago sent Bagheri, Salami, Shamkhani, one by one, to hell,” quoted the Washington Post.
Spreading fear and instability among Iranian leaders
The campaign was meant to intimidate Iran’s second- and third-tier leadership, aimed to create fear among those who had not been struck in the initial round of Israeli strikes, and to prevent Khamenei from filling key positions, the Washington Post reported, based on the Israeli official.“The second-tier leadership that is supposed to inherit the positions and now fill in the places of those who have been eliminated, they are terrified,” one Israeli security official explained.
The source also referenced the elimination of key Hezbollah commanders and said, "They are being reminded on a personal level about what happened to the successor of Nasrallah."
“Khamenei is facing serious difficulties in nominating successors for the positions of officials eliminated in the operation,” the official continued. “And even if he succeeds in doing so, these are people he didn’t choose in the first place.”
Some Iranian officials received warnings via letters left at their doors, while others were contacted directly by phone or through their spouses, the Washington Post reported. “They fully understand that they are transparent and known to us and that our intelligence penetration is 100 percent,” said one Israeli source.
No major changes with Iranian military leaders
Despite increasing pressure on Iran’s leadership from the campaign, the Washington Post reported that Western intelligence agencies have not seen any major defections from the Iranian military or the IRGC.
Jerusalem Post Staff
Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-858747
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