Mossad, Shin Bet foil Iranian assassination plot targeting senior Israeli officials

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry allegedly worked through foreign criminal organizations and successive intermediaries to assemble the network.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Israeli intelligence agencies have disrupted what they said was an Iranian effort to establish an assassination cell inside Israel by recruiting operatives through layers of foreign intermediaries intended to mask Tehran’s role.

The Mossad and the Shin Bet said the plot relied on a recruitment model that avoided direct contact between Iranian intelligence officers and the intended operatives.

Instead, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry allegedly worked through foreign criminal organizations and successive intermediaries to assemble the network, a method authorities said was designed to distance Tehran from the operation and reduce the political fallout if it were uncovered.

The investigation, conducted with international intelligence partners, identified Tharwat Ozkour, a France-based operative who used the alias “Philip,” as the central recruiter for the operation.

According to Israeli authorities, Ozkour traveled repeatedly to Iran, where he met with intelligence officials, received operational guidance and accepted payments related to the mission.

Authorities said the international investigation resulted in Ozkour’s deportation from France before the planned network could be inserted into Israel, preventing the operation from moving forward.

Israeli officials identified four members of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry as overseeing the plot: Asadollah Behzad Oskhari, Vahid Matzoumi, Mohammad-Hossein Zoghi and Hamid Qasemi.

According to the investigation, Oskhari served as a key coordinator in the operation. Israeli authorities said he was later killed during recent military engagements.

The Mossad and Shin Bet said the case illustrates what they described as Iran’s increasing reliance on indirect recruitment methods to support operations abroad.

Rather than building cells through direct contact, the agencies said Tehran sought to conceal its involvement by employing multiple layers of intermediaries before reaching the intended operatives.

Israeli officials credited international intelligence cooperation with exposing the network before it could establish an operational presence inside Israel and carry out the planned assassinations of senior Israeli officials.