Israel arrests man allegedly recruited by Iran to assassinate Netanyahu and other top officials

Israeli police say targets also included the defense minister and the head of the Shin Bet

Israeli authorities said Thursday they had arrested an Israeli citizen allegedly recruited by Iran’s intelligence services to carry out the assassination of several senior Iranian officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Israeli police said in a statement posted on their social media account X that security forces arrested a citizen in August “suspected of security crimes related to contacts with agents of the Iranian regime’s intelligence services.”

“During the investigations it came to light that the citizen is a businessman who lived for a long period of time in Turkey and had business and social relations with Turkish and Iranian-born people. As part of these connections, he agreed in April this year, through the mediation of Turkish citizens Andrei Faruk and Junaid Aslan, to meet with a wealthy Turkish businessman living in Iran, named Eddy, for business matters,” he said.

He said that the detainee met two “representatives” of the businessman in Samandag and had a telephone conversation with him, since the latter had remained in Iran. The Israeli was then transported to Iranian territory illegally, hidden in a vehicle, to meet with Eddy.

The Israeli Police have stressed that during this meeting the detainee was offered “carry out various security missions in Israel in favour of the Iranian regime”, including “transferring money or a gun to certain locations”, “photographing locations in Israel and sending them to the Iranian authorities”, “threatening other Israeli citizens in Israel”.

“Investigations reveal that in August the Israeli citizen entered Iran for the second time,” he said, adding that he had a new meeting with Eggy and “other Iranian intelligence agents.” “He was asked to carry out terrorist activities on Israeli territory and to promote the assassination of the prime minister, the defense minister or the head of the Shin Bet,” he stressed.

“Iranian intelligence agents raised the possibility of assassinating other senior officials such as former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and other public figures, in their opinion as revenge for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh — head of the political wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) — on Iranian territory in July 2024,” he explained.

In this regard, the Israeli police have stressed that the detainee “requested an advance payment of one million dollars (about 900,000 euros) before carrying out any action” and that he was also proposed in a later meeting to work towards “eliminating opponents of the Iranian regime in Europe and the United States” and to “recruit a Mossad agent to work as a double agent.”

“During this meeting, the Israeli asked for an advance payment of one million dollars, but the Iranian agents rejected the request and told him that they would contact him in the future,” he said. “Before leaving Iranian territory, he received 5,000 euros from Eddy and a representative of Iranian intelligence for participating in the meetings,” he concluded.

Iranian authorities have not yet commented on the reports. They have repeatedly threatened to take action in recent weeks for Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran, amid rising tensions in the Middle East and fears of a full-scale war breaking out in the region.