Israel’s infiltration of Iran
There is no question that Israel has penetrated Iran in the sense of getting good intelligence on which to act. How this has been accomplished is one of those Mossad secrets, and I’m certainly not privy to them. But I can certainly speculate.
One thing many people may not realize is that Jews have a very long history in Iran (originally Persia):
The history of the Jews in Iran dates back to late biblical times (mid-1st millennium BCE). The biblical books of Chronicles, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, contain references to the life and experiences of Jews in Persia. In the book of Ezra, the Persian kings are credited with permitting and enabling the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple; its reconstruction was carried out “according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia” (Ezra 6:14). This event in Jewish history took place in the late 6th century BCE, by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia.
As I said, a long history. I’ll skip to recent history; here’s an article written in February of 2025:
Despite rising antisemitism and diminishing tolerance, Iran’s Jewish community maintains a strong sense of cultural pride and national identity, according to David Nissan, an Iran expert and former Israeli intelligence officer who was born and raised in Tehran. …
When asked to shed light on Iran’s Jewish community, once the flagship of Middle Eastern Jewish communities, Nissan noted that despite significant emigration from the 1979 Islamic Revolution to the present day, the community still maintains a complete Jewish way of life. …
The main challenge for the Jewish community today is separating Zionism from Judaism,” said Nissan.
“They must prominently demonstrate this separation and prove their loyalty to Iran, which views Zionism as illegitimate and reprehensible. The difficult economic situation in Iran also affects the Jewish community, most of which already belongs to a lower socioeconomic status,” he explained. …
Following the revolution, the Jewish community, which at its peak included almost 100,000 Jews, shrunk to just 9,000 Jews currently residing in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan.
So these are mostly poor – and I would guess predominantly elderly – Jews whose ancestors probably have been in Iran for millennia and who are not Zionists and must make that clear. I doubt that they are a significant source of the intelligence Israel gets on Iran, although of course I don’t know for sure.
But note the first paragraph I quoted, which is that the speaker, Nissan, is “an Iran expert and former Israeli intelligence officer who was born and raised in Tehran.” So this “former Israeli intelligence officer” is an Iranian expat, and there are many such expats in Israel today. I would guess that some of them are the source of the Mossad’s intelligence on Iran, either by being on the ground undercover in Iran and/or by communicating with Iranian informants who are not Jewish but who are insiders in the government.
Which brings us to the second source of information and I would guess the largest one: Iranian insiders who are not in tune with the mullahcracy and who are giving the Israelis important information on the movement and location of important government figures as well as nuclear scientists, munitions, and plans.
In addition, there is also the usual electronic surveillance. The Israelis are no doubt adept in the most modern versions of that.
The entire apparatus must strike some sort of fear into the Iranian rulers. It’s a sort of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” – not that the Iranians are necessarily familiar with that jingle, but “He sees you when you’re sleeping/He knows when you’re awake” must be the way they feel right about now. Plus, note the first line of the song: “You better watch out.”
Of the existing insiders Mossad approaches, they must be pretty confident they won’t be reported to the Mullahs. Somehow they know. Is it blackmail? Worse? Or do they know how to spot people in positions of value to them who are disloyal to the regime and willing to take chances to help Israel? And not miss many times.
The dude they blew up in a hostel…knew where he was going to sleep, got it booby trapped, knew when he’d be there, and fired it up. Did they have an agent apply for a job at that location five years ago and do a great job of keeping the toilets clean, just in case? Did they find a disaffected laundress?
Not guessing we’ll ever know but…wow, would I like to.
As regards Santa Claus: Internal efforts to reduce or eliminate the insider effect cause a major reduction in efficiency. Every time you turn around, there’s some procedure for verifying that….so and so is for real. That the phone isn’t tapped. That instead of phones, let’s go for a walk in the park…where there are no robot snipers, right? Right?
Fewer people read in to a particular issue means you have to bring them up to speed in a very short time when it’s zero hour and maybe that doesn’t get done as well as it could. Or run it parallel to what they think is supposed to be happening while they’re trying to figure out what they’re supposed to do.
The thing to remember about Iran: they are not a majority Muslim country, nor are they Arab. There used to be a large Jewish minority in Iran, that grew up speaking Farsi, and ethnically appear just like everyday Iranians, so finding agents for Mossad to emplace there isn’t very difficult.
https://x.com/NiohBerg/status/1936419720086856041
That’s a brief excerpt of the beginning of the Xpost: go read the rest of it.
sdferr:
Yes, that conforms with the quote I presented about the community
By the way, there’s a large community of Iranian Jews in Los Angeles.
Does Mossad find or install Iranian Jews where needed? Seems convenient beyond random. And would the regime allow such where Israel needs them?
Is local Jewry how they get so far into other enterprises?
Iran not sure it can trust America after Israeli attack, Iran’s foreign minister tells NBC News.
Iran not sure it can trust America,a.k.a. The Great Satan, after Israeli attack, Iran’s foreign minister tells NBC News.
I thought Muslims were taught to not trust Satan. 🙂
I am surprised that Israel keeps going with targeted strikes, over a week after this began, that show its intelligence is up-to-date.
Perhaps bribes can explain some of Israel’s success in infiltrating Iran’s governing infrastructure.
Alan Colbo wrote: “The thing to remember about Iran: they are not a majority Muslim country …”
90-99% of Iranians are Muslim.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Iran#Demographics
https://www.britannica.com/place/Iran/Religion
I used to follow Nioh Berg on X, and agreed with her sentiments, but I finally had enough of her constant F-bombs. Blocked her for the corrosive language.
A little invective goes a long way but i get her point
Christian sites say the underground Christian presence in Iran is growing rapidly; however, I believe it’s an error to say it’s not a majority Muslim country. It is not an Arab country.
Israeli intelligence services have proved themselves far more competent than the American versions so far.
Free societies (liberal democracy, respect for human rights, etc) seem to have somewhat of a structural disadvantage in war due to the extent they go in avoiding civilian casualties while their opponents have no such scruples.
OTOH, free societies have an advantage because the culture that produced them is one that inherently incentivizes creative thinking, ingenuity, bold imagination and success – which is alien to oppressive cultures and pretty much all of the ME, but not Israel. I think that explains, at least at a macro level, Israel’s massive Intel successes and advantage.
In terms of background of spies recruited by Israel. This book is a quick read and provides some fascinating insight in the early years (post WW2)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1616207221/?bestFormat=true&k=spies%20of%20no%20country&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-bk-ww_de_k0_1_8&crid=398EPK2OZBYBW&sprefix=spies%20of
https://x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1936571874307190906
The US has apparently bombed three Iranian nuclear sites, Fordow among them. Surprise!
Zep: you amuse the hell out of me, citing Wikipedia as a credible source of information. https://theconversation.com/irans-secular-shift-new-survey-reveals-huge-changes-in-religious-beliefs-145253
Islam has lost a lot of influence under the current theocratic tyranny.
It finally happened.
NYT_Live Updates: U.S. Enters War With Iran, Bombing Key Nuclear Sites.
Like they say, more at the link.
@ Neo > ” “He sees you when you’re sleeping/He knows when you’re awake”
Like this?
https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/mullah.png?w=968
The rest of Sarah’s Meme Post has other good reactions to the current phase of the Iran vs Everyone war.
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2025/06/21/who-let-the-memes-out/
Alan Colbo wrote: “Zep: you amuse the hell out of me, citing Wikipedia as a credible source of information.”
I didn’t say they were credible, I just posted links which a quick web search turned up, in contrast to your original post’s unsupported assertion. Your link says that a plurality (40%) of Iranians surveyed were Muslim.
I agree that Wikipedia and Britannica (which you didn’t challenge) are not dependable; I don’t necessarily accept “The Conversation’s” figures either, but thank you for your interesting comment.
CIA says
Muslim (official) 98.5%, Christian 0.7%, Baha’i 0.3%, agnostic 0.3%, other (includes Zoroastrian, Jewish, Hindu) 0.2% (2020 est.)
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/religions/
I’m sad to see that American support for the airstrikes is not as solid as I would hope. It is understandable after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
However, for those paying attention, preventing Iran from getting nukes is of the highest priority, not just for Israel, not just for the Middle East, but for the whole world.
The polls I’ve looked at are bit muddled on how the questions are framed. Few Americans want a war with Iran, nor regime change and certainly not nation-building. This is why Trump (and Netanyahu) have been so specific about the airstrikes.
We will have to see how things shake out with better polling and fingers crossed that Midnight Hammer was as successful as it appears.
after nearly years of a theocracy, a little like Robert Heinlein predicted in ‘If this Goes On’ that Attwood, rather extravagantly borrowed, it wouldn’t be surprising if actual feilty to the state faith, were less than advertised,
certainly under the last shah, there was an official acceptance of jews,
perhaps not so much under his father, who had expressed nazi sympathies, why the latter was deposed at the start of the war,
Interesting head fake to say “within two weeks” and then launch in two days.
Maybe the weather over Omaha beach was more favorable on Saturday?
But also, 4 planes headed to Guam; and three (x 2 bombs each) dropped 6 bombs on Fordow;
except now NBC says it was 7 planes (x 2 bombs each) dropping 14 bombs on Fordow (plus a slue of support fighter aircraft).
Kind of like insurance: you hate paying for it; hope you really never have a need to make a claim; but sure glad you do have it when required.
In the garment (fabric)district of LA there is a large group of Iranian Jews. They own the shops and trade in fabrics as if they have some primordial memory of cloth. They are lovely to purchase fabric from as they are very knowledgeable. Their shops feel different than the other Jewish shops in the district.