Israeli authorities announced today the arrest of an Israeli citizen who, allegedly in Iran's pay, planned to assassinate "prominent figures", including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The arrest was announced by the police and the Shin Bet (Israeli secret service).
"An Israeli citizen was recruited by the Iranian secret service to carry out the assassination of prominent Israelis. He was smuggled into Iran on two occasions and was paid to carry out missions," the statement said.
The document also said that Chief Executive Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and "other senior Israeli officials" were targets of the alleged operative.
The Israeli citizen, "a businessman who has lived for a long time in Turkey", had connections with Turkish and Iranian (agents) who put him in telephone contact with a "businessman [living] in Iran named Eddie", the police added.
The Israeli businessman, a "Jewish citizen of the city of Ashkelon", according to the Israeli press, entered Iran illegally in May 2024 "to meet Eddie in person".
It was during this meeting that the Israeli "met" an individual identified as "Hajjah", presented as an Iranian security agent.
The Israeli was invited to carry out security missions for Iran in Israel, including the transfer of "money or a weapon", photographing "several crowded places" and threatening Israeli citizens already contacted by Iran to carry out "instructions", the statement adds.
It was during a second visit to Iran, last August, that he was reportedly offered the possibility of assassinating important figures in Israel in revenge for the assassination in Tehran, on July 31, of the then leader of the Islamist movement Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh.
Iran has blamed Israel for the killing, but Israeli authorities have not commented.
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