Gilan, Iran – The Israeli navy used lots of of fighter jets, armed drones and refuelling planes to assault Iran throughout its 12-day war backed by the United States, nevertheless it was additionally closely assisted by operations launched from deep inside Iranian soil.
Simply hours after the Israeli military and Mossad spy company began their assaults earlier than daybreak on June 13, they launched footage that appeared to have been recorded at evening from undisclosed places inside Iran.
One grainy video confirmed Mossad operatives, camouflaged and sporting tactical gear together with night-vision goggles, crouched in what appeared like desert terrain, deploying weapons that aimed to destroy Iran’s air defence techniques to assist pave the way in which for incoming assault plane.
Others confirmed projectiles, with mounted cameras, descending to slam into Iranian missile defence batteries, in addition to ballistic missile platforms. The projectiles gave the impression to be Spike missiles – comparatively small, precision-guided anti-armour missiles that may be programmed to fly to targets which are out of their line of sight.
Iranian authorities additionally confirmed the usage of the weapons, with state media displaying pictures of remnants of customised Spike missile launchers that had been found in a single open space. They stated the weapons had been geared up with “internet-based automation and remote-controlled techniques” and had been operated by “terrorist Mossad brokers”.
The transfer partly echoed an Israeli operation in November 2020 that killed Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a senior determine in Iran’s nuclear programme, who was gunned down in a metropolis close to Tehran whereas transferring in a automobile along with his spouse and bodyguards. Iranian authorities on the time confirmed that the assassination was carried out utilizing remote-controlled and synthetic intelligence-guided gear, with Israeli media reporting {that a} one-tonne gun was smuggled into Iran in pieces by Mossad and mounted on the again of a pick-up truck, which exploded after Fakhrizadeh was killed.
Iran executed three males on Wednesday morning within the northwestern province of West Azerbaijan, accused of being concerned in Fakhrizadeh’s loss of life and different assassinations.
Drone manufacturing inside Iran
Israel additionally seems to have used numerous explosives-laden small drones and quadcopters in the course of the 12-day warfare to overwhelm Iranian defences as a part of its multipronged assault operations.
Iranian media reported all through the warfare that air defences throughout the nation had been activated to counter the small drones, in addition to bigger military-grade counterparts just like the Hermes 900, a number of of which Iran claimed to have shot down. Nonetheless, the precise variety of drones launched and the way profitable they had been in hitting their targets can’t be corroborated by Al Jazeera.
The smaller drones attracted quite a lot of consideration and compelled authorities to muster large-scale search operations to neutralise them, as Israeli warplanes dropped extra bombs throughout the nation and US President Donald Trump briefly rhetorically backed the possibility of regime change.
Quickly, authorities discovered pick-up vehicles with customised cargo beds that had been made to accommodate small, pre-programmed drones that they stated may very well be pushed near their meant targets earlier than launching. Such a technique has been used efficiently elsewhere as effectively, together with at the beginning of June when Ukraine managed to destroy as a lot as a 3rd of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet on the tarmac of four airfields deep inside Russian territory.
Iranian authorities organised search events, significantly at evening, consisting of safety forces who patrolled the streets on bikes or automobiles to search for any suspicious vehicles or motion. Armed and masked safety forces additionally arrange numerous roadblocks and checkpoints in sprawling Tehran and throughout the nation, together with in northern provinces the place millions travelled after fleeing the capital, which generally stopped and searched pick-up vehicles with coated cargo beds.
After what the Israelis stated had been years of preparations, their operatives seem to have been in a position to arrange small manufacturing strains of the unmanned automobiles inside Iran.
One such operation was found in Shahr-e Rey in southern Tehran, the place state media stated a three-storey constructing was devoted to churning out drones, selfmade bombs and a big quantity of explosives.
Safety forces situated a clandestine drone-manufacturing web site in Shahr-e Rey, south of Tehran.
The three flooring constructing, was utilized by Israeli brokers to assemble and retailer UAVs meant for terrorists operations.
Officers additionally discovered selfmade bombs and over 200 kg of explosives. pic.twitter.com/wrZz1vc12x— Tasnim Information Company (@Tasnimnews_EN) June 15, 2025
State tv additionally confirmed one other comparable operation, by which six Iranian “Mossad brokers” had been assembling quadcopters with small bombs hooked up beneath them, in addition to bombs with timers, grenades and different weapons. There have been additionally stories of automobiles planted with explosives, however there was no official affirmation by Iranian authorities.
A few of the arrested suspects had been proven confessing on state tv with their fingers certain and their eyes coated. Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohsen-Ejei and Tehran’s public prosecutor Ali Salehi personally interrogated one unnamed suspect on state tv, who stated he tried to movie air defences for the Mossad from rooftops.
‘We’re all beneath surveillance’
The Israeli navy’s chief of workers, Eyal Zamir, confirmed in a video assertion on Wednesday that commando forces “operated covertly deep in enemy territory and carried out operations that granted us operational freedom of motion”. He didn’t say whether or not he was referring to the commandos proven at the beginning of the operation on the primary evening or different potential operations.
Iranian officers haven’t immediately commented on claimed Israeli commando operations from inside Iranian territory.
However authorities proceed to announce dozens of arrests throughout Iran in relation to collaboration with Israel and the US, and have up to now executed at least six people accused of collaborating for the reason that begin of the warfare.
Israeli intelligence operations inside Iran are believed to have been a serious contributor to the success of the June 13 shock assaults that began the warfare, which killed numerous prime navy commanders and nuclear scientists whereas additionally incapacitating some air defences and hitting missile launch websites in an effort to restrict Iran’s retaliation.
Large cyberattacks launched by pro-Israel hacking teams additionally briefly took down two of the nation’s greatest banks, in addition to the nation’s largest cryptocurrency change.
An undated video circulated by state-linked media this week confirmed Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the assassinated head of the important aerospace division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), saying throughout a speech that “we’re all beneath surveillance” by Mossad via cellphones and different communications gadgets.
Hajizadeh, who was killed whereas holding a gathering with a bunch of other top aerospace commanders in an underground bunker in or round Tehran, urged others to train warning and switch off and periodically substitute their cellphones in the course of the speech.
As a part of their response to the Israeli offensive, Iranian authorities additionally minimize off web entry, at one level choking off 97 % of the huge nation’s connectivity, in response to NetBlocks web observatory. It was one of the crucial complete internet blackouts ever imposed in Iran – and sure wherever else on this planet.
The restrictions imposed in the course of the warfare had been largely lifted by Thursday, two days after a ceasefire introduced by Trump took impact.
