According to Iranian media reports, Iran on the 17th executed a spy working for the Israeli intelligence and intelligence agency (Mossad), Shahbaz.
In the Israeli-Iraqi conflict in June, spies recruited by Israel in Iran provided a lot of help for the former's first wave of air strikes. What is certain is that these spies used weapons, equipment and drones secretly transported to various parts of Iran to cause certain interference to the country's air defense system and command organization.
At the same time, before the conflict, it was these spies active in Iran who continuously delivered information about Iranian military facilities and the travel patterns of important figures to Israel, supporting the photos taken by the Israeli satellite system.
So how did the Israeli side screen and recruit spies?
Around the corner between Israel and Iran, the studio released a second article entitled “War on the Hidden Front of Iraq” to continue to talk about this smoke-free war.
A "cool" job?
According to the Washington Post, Israeli intelligence agencies are different from the low-key and secrecy around the beginning of the 21st century. Nowadays, spy stories with Mossad and Shin Bet as the background are constantly "swiping the screen" in news and popular TV dramas.
Many "unknown" details of past operations have been disclosed as never before. For example, the previous assassination of Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and the participation of many spies in the "12th conflict" between Israel and Iraq have been widely reported and spread by the media.
Popular streaming dramas such as Netflix's "Spy" and Apple TV's "Tehran" portray intelligence agencies such as the Mossad as a ruthless but efficient machine.
So are the Israeli intelligence agencies worried about such exposures?
On the contrary, intelligence agencies, once difficult to reach by ordinary people, are welcoming and actively accelerating this exposure. Former Israeli intelligence officials say the significance of increasing exposure lies in “recruiting more spies.”
In Mossad's long-term recruitment plan, strengthening its own presence on social media is an important goal, so Mossad will actively and cleverly leak some unconfirmed action information. The agency is proactively "embracing" a range of TV shows and movies. The Hollywood blockbuster "Top Gun" once achieved considerable success in recruiting personnel for the U.S. Navy, and the Israeli intelligence structure is also aiming at this, hoping to make "working for Mossad cooler."
Abner Abraham, a former Mossad agent who worked for Mossad for 28 years and now runs consultancy services for “spy films” at Hollywood productions, said that Israel needs more spies, “which are the most popular Mossad operations that shape legends, which shock people and bring greater influence.”
Abraham said that when he was a young agent, he and his colleagues often sought inspiration from the 007 film series, and that he also adhered to this idea by the Israeli website Mosad, which he assisted with designing.The website’s front page quoted an unsigned phrase, “Suddenly, I discovered what I was doing, maybe only in the movie.”
Dangerous contact
According to the ProPublica news agency, Mossad officials have revealed that Iranian and neighbouring intelligence officials who have been in contact with Israeli intelligence agencies are motivated to join Mossad for both personal and political purposes. Some are tempted by the money promised by Israel, family health insurance and the opportunity to study abroad, while others are discontented with the government.
Mosad began a shift in its overseas spy recruitment strategy about 15 years ago, before taking on the task of approaching and destroying enemy air defense systems in the Middle East and monitoring the travels of key figures was generally the exclusive task of Israeli front-line agents.But with the rapid development of technology and social media, Israel is recruiting Iranians and citizens of Iranian neighbors as spies for the execution of the mission based on its infiltration into Iran.
According to Israeli officials, an Iranian spy (referred to as A) grew up in a small town near Tehran and was born into a working family and lived along the trajectory of an ordinary man. Until after A ascended to university, he and his friends were arrested for improper behavior by the Basque militia (an armed force under the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard) and taken to a detention center for interrogation. Although A and his friends were eventually released, this experience caused him to "burn in anger" and desire to avenge the government. Soon after, a relative of A living abroad offered his name to the Israeli intelligence agency.
Israeli intelligence recruits focused on those who were dissatisfied with their country, and then A was given the opportunity to "free travel" to a neighboring country. Through travel, A contacted Mossad officials, and Mossad, after completing the review, invited A to become a spy on Iran and promised many benefits. Mossad also "insisted" that if A was arrested because of infiltration work, the Israeli side would take care of his family. A was trained by Israeli intelligence and weapons experts for months and returned to Iran before the conflict in June this year, becoming a member of a destructive mission in the conflict. As to how to hide after the operation, Israel did not disclose any information.
Former Israeli Mossad director Mel Dagan (in office from 2002-2010) said he was “proud of Mossad’s recruiting capabilities.”Dagan said: “The best entry point for recruiting internal Iranian spies is the country’s diverse ethnic structure and those who exist against the regime, some even hate the current regime.”
As of June 2022, Iran had a population of approximately 8.855 million. The provinces of Tehran, Isfahan, Fars, Khoshan Razawi and East Azerbaijan are the most concentrated in population, with 66 percent of the country's population being Persian, 25 percent Azerbaijani, 5 percent Kurdish, and the rest being ethnic minorities such as Arabs and Turkmen.
Deeper and unable to turn back.
Both former and current Israeli officials say that spies can be roughly divided into two categories, one of which tends to be a hidden mission in the traditional spy field, namely to collect intelligence and pass it on to the head, while the other is willing to carry out radical armed violence, such as attacking scientists and air defense systems. Of course, given the second type of operation exposure and the risk of being sentenced to extreme punishment, most will choose the first.
The report quoted a senior official as saying, “It’s never easy for anyone to betray their country,” but “developing spies is a gradually eroding process, starting with a small request or an irrelevant task, and then gradually adding a task. These are trials, and if the developed spies behave very obediently, the nature of the task will gradually become ‘serious’. If they try to withdraw, they will find themselves getting deeper and unable to return. Pressure, threats and even blackmail, and Mossad’s initiative drives them.” The official said that recruiters will try to avoid direct threats and coercion, but Mossad will always find the right code and weaknesses to guide spies to where they are willing to take action.
Foreign media）
“Money rewards are of course important,” the official stressed, but people are also driven by feelings that if the recruiter is attracted to some specific interest, then “help” from Mossad can pull him down.
This is how the above-mentioned A is absorbed, and first Mosad has mastered his inner dissatisfaction. Secondly, Mosad poses conditions that he cannot reject, that Israel can provide medical care to one of his relatives in Iran. Medical care has always been Mosad’s iconic means of recruitment, and many Palestinian resistance organizations have also been infiltrated, and the role of this instrument is prominent in the tactics against Iranian espionage.
Mossad also has many “traps” on the Internet, which create Persian-language websites and post Persian-language posts on social media promising to help Iranians suffering from severe illnesses, such as cancer, which are often directed to contacts with intelligence agencies recruiting or encrypted contacts.
Another "temptation" to absorb Iranian spies is to provide opportunities for deepening in foreign higher educational institutions. Following research and analysis, Mossad recruits found that Iranian social culture has always attached great importance to accessing quality higher education, and the Iranian government also encouraged the development of higher education and international exchanges, providing deepening opportunities for Western universities to recruit spies as a highly attractive tool.
Foreign media）
Once the candidates are determined, Mossad will choose Turkey, Armenia or Azerbaijan as the first meeting place, and Thailand, India and some Southeast Asian countries will also be selected as potential meeting places. Candidates are subject to a series of interviews and psychological evaluations. Psychologists will observe the behavior of these people through one-way glass and determine whether these people can be used by Mossad. Even after being officially recruited as spies, these spies are regularly re-tested to determine their loyalty.
Candidate spies receive a lot of training and supervision.To avoid suspicion, they are systematically trained in spying, what clothes to wear, what car to drive, and how to safely access funds.
At the same time, the contact person of the spy also plays an important role. A former Mossad agent who is good at "manipulating" the spies under his command said that the contact person is a godfather, nanny, psychologist, spiritual teacher and even "family" for the spies deployed on the front line. The goal of the contact person is to establish a strong bond with front-line spies, so that spies can feel safe and supported, and share their deepest personal secrets with the contact person "comfortably".
According to Iranian media reports, on September 17, Mossad spy Shahbaz was executed by hanging. He was able to enter important data centers in Iran because of the nature of his work, became a spy by visiting the web recruitment pages set by Mossad, leaked a large amount of confidential information from Iran after being countermeasures. He had asked Mossad to ensure his safety and his family, providing U.S. permanent residence and a digital currency worth $1,200 million.
All the information the spies disclose, whether about themselves or the Iranian government, has potential value, whether as a "grip" for deepening ties with spies, driving spies, or capturing the moves and key details of the Iranian government, and even figures in the spy social circle can be considered to be beneficial by Mossad.
The report noted that spies who attacked key Iranian figures and facilities in the Iraq conflict received at least five months of training abroad and even in Israel's homeland.Israeli intelligence agencies have established dedicated sites and models to continuously train and simulate how spies give Iran a "critical hit" in the conflict.
The spies carrying out violent attack missions have at least 20 groups, eachining a size of 4 to 6 people. Their core targets are Iran’s air defense systems, and the list of these high-value targets is provided by the Israeli Air Force. Each group has its own mission instructions and always keeps in touch with the contact person so that the attack plan can be updated at any time.
Some spies are Iranians, but there are also citizens of neighboring countries and Iranian expatriates. They secretly sneaked in and ambushed through the long border between Iran and neighboring countries until the conflict broke out on June 12th...