The secret network of Mossad and IDF outposts that closed on Iran

During the war, dozens of Israeli commando fighters, members of the 669 Air Force’s airborne rescue units and secret Mossad agents managed a network of forward posts in southern Azerbaijan – only about 96 kilometers from the Iranian city of Tabriz – from where they operated drones and conducted complex espionage missions, according to an investigation published by the CNN network. Azerbaijan rejects the claims: Israeli commando forces did not were placed in the country – and we will not allow this in the future.

According to four well-informed sources who spoke to the American network, the secret presence in Azerbaijan was just one arm in a network of secret bases and facilities that Israel deployed throughout the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. This network gave the IDF unprecedented access and an extended operating range of hundreds of kilometers deep into Iranian territory, which made it possible to carry out repeated waves of attacks.

According to the report, the infrastructure for the operation in Azerbaijan began to be built weeks before the opening salvos of the war. In mid-January, while the Ayatollah regime was suppressing huge protests in the country with blood and fire, Israel planned a secret infiltration operation along the Azeri-Iranian border to place listening devices and advanced espionage means.

The original plan was to carry out the operation under the auspices of a joint military opening strike with the United States. However, US President Donald Trump canceled the attacks at the last minute, after Tehran sent messages that it would stop killing the protesters.

In Jerusalem they refused to wait. Assessing that the diplomatic contacts between Washington and Tehran were doomed to failure, it was decided to act alone: ​​stealth planes of the Air Force and special forces were jumped into the mission and the intelligence equipment was successfully installed in the border area. As a result, the site became the main source of information that provided Israel with early warnings of missile launches and tracking the movements of the Iranian army.

The forward base in Azerbaijan was not only used as “eyes and ears” for Israeli intelligence, but quickly became a platform from which assassination operations were carried out. According to the sources of the American network, one of the main operations made possible by the Azeri axis was the killing on March 4 of Rahman Mogdamthe head of the Intelligence Division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, whose assassination was first published in N12. Mogdam was labeled by Israel as the one behind the planning of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in 2024.

The Iranian response was not long in coming. Only a day after the assassination, drones attacked an airport in the Azeri enclave of Nakhchivan, damaging the terminal building and injuring several people. The president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, was quick to blame Tehran and called the attack “an ugly, cowardly and shameless act of terrorism”, while Iran denied any connection to the incident.

Two days later, on March 6, the State Security Service of Azerbaijan announced that it had thwarted a plot by the Revolutionary Guards to attack critical infrastructure and Israeli and Jewish targets in the country – a joint operation by the Mossad, the Shin Bet and the IDF, the existence of which Israel officially confirmed a few weeks later.

On the political side, the close relationship and absolute trust between the countries deepened. Less than two weeks after the January spying operation, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar made an official visit to Baku and met with President Aliyev and other officials. These connections led to the fact that in May 2025 Azerbaijan even secretly hosted direct and rare talks between representatives from Israel and Syria.

The Embassy of Azerbaijan in the United States strongly rejected the findings and told CNN that it categorically denies baseless claims about the use of its territory against third countries. Neither the Prime Minister’s office nor the IDF spokeswoman gave a response to CNN’s investigative findings.

Azerbaijan was only part of an extensive regional network designed to crown Iran. The investigation reveals that the separatist republic of Somaliland, located in the Horn of Africa, granted Israel an additional military position that served as a potential stopping and refueling point for Air Force planes on their way to long-term missions in Iranian territory.

This deployment was made possible due to the political rapprochement, when last December Israel became the first country in the world to officially recognize Somaliland, while the United Arab Emirates maintains an extensive commercial and military presence in the strategic port city of Barbara within its territory.

At the same time, according to the reports, the IDF also maintained two secret installations on Iraqi territory during some of the months of the war. These bases, whose existence was first reported in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, provided the Israeli forces with forward positions for logistical support and readiness for rescue operations and the rescue of pilots if necessary. happy”.