An Iranian ballistic missile launcher destroyed in an Israeli airstrike during Operation Rising Lion. (X)
Israel’s Mossad reportedly used Iranian civilians secretly trained in Israel to disable the regime’s air defense network at the outset of the 2025 war.
By World Israel News Staff
Israel’s Mossad used Iranian civilians trained in Israel to help carry out the opening blow of Operation Rising Lion, including the launch of a missile at a key target inside Iran, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.
The report said the Iranian agents were part of a broader network recruited and prepared by the Mossad to operate inside Iran during the June 13, 2025, attack, which Israel said targeted Iran’s nuclear program, air defenses, missile infrastructure and senior military leadership.
According to the report, the agents had been brought to Israel for training, returned to Iran, resumed civilian lives and waited for activation orders.
Ahead of the operation, weapons, drones, warheads and other combat equipment were smuggled into Iran in dismantled form and hidden in innocuous objects.
One team was assigned to strike an Iranian air defense installation as part of an effort to clear the way for Israeli aircraft operating over Tehran. The agents were reportedly given final coordinates and timing shortly before the attack to reduce the risk of leaks.
Reuters reported at the time, citing an Israeli security source, that Mossad commandos had deployed explosive drones near Tehran and fired precision-guided weapons at Iranian surface-to-air missile systems as the Israeli assault got underway.
Ynet said the figures seen in black-and-white footage released by Mossad on the day of the attack were not Israeli troops but Iranian agents working for the agency. The footage showed helmeted operatives using night-vision equipment while assembling or operating a weapons system on Iranian soil.
The report said other Mossad-linked teams operated elsewhere in Iran that night, helping disable elements of Iran’s air defense and ballistic missile arrays and supporting the Israeli Air Force’s targeting of senior commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force.
A former senior Mossad official familiar with the operation told Ynet that despite some malfunctions, the operation “worked like a clock.”
A man was arrested after he allegedly shouted Nazi slogans and calls to kill Jews…
The U.S. envoy urged the group of international pastors from 14 countries visiting Israel to…
The two countries have also held joint training exercises between their militaries.
Newly sworn-in Knesset member Eliya Majad, who lost both legs fighting in Gaza, received a…
Like much of the Western world, Germany has seen an alarming rise in antisemitic incidents…
At the ceremonial opening, Avi Harush, father of Sergeant Rif Harush, who fell in battle…