Jerusalem — Israeli police announced Monday that they had arrested seven Israeli citizens accused of being a spy network collecting information on Israeli military bases and energy infrastructure on behalf of Iranian intelligence.

The internal security agency and police “succeeded in dismantling a spy ring involving seven Israeli citizens who were operating on behalf of Iranian intelligence,” police said in a statement, adding that all seven had been arrested. The seven Israelis were from the city of Haifa and other areas in the north of the country.

“This network was engaged in collecting sensitive information on IDF (military) bases and energy infrastructure,” he added.

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Israeli investigations revealed that the group carried out several missions under the direction of two Iranian agents known as “Alkhan and Orkhan” over a two-year period, police said.

“Members of the network were aware that the intelligence they provided compromised national security and could potentially contribute to enemy missile attacks,” police said. “The network conducted extensive reconnaissance missions on IDF bases throughout the country, focusing on Air Force and Navy installations, ports, Iron Dome system locations and energy infrastructure such as the Hadera power plant. »

He added that the group received hundreds of thousands of dollars for this work, often through cryptocurrency payments.

The work often involved photographing and documenting strategic sites, with the collected data passed to Iranian agents, police said.

“The investigation led to the seizure of substantial elements compiled by members of the network for Iranian agents,” an official from the Israeli internal security agency was quoted as saying in the police statement.

“These included photographs and videos of numerous IDF bases across Israel, ports and energy infrastructure. It is believed that these activities caused damage to the security of the state,” police said.

Members of the group were also tasked with collecting intelligence on several Israeli citizens at the request of Iranian agents, the statement said.

Monday’s announcement comes just weeks after Israeli police said they had arrested an Israeli suspected of being recruited by Iran to plan the assassination of top officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Over the weekend, Israeli officials said that Iran-backed Hezbollah group had targeted Netanyahu’s private residence in central Israel with a drone attack, but he and his wife were not home at the time and there were no casualties. Israeli officials have not linked the attack to alleged Iranian espionage activities.

Israeli media identified the man accused in the assassination plot as Mordechai Maman from the coastal town of Ashkelon. Mom was a businessman who lived in Türkiye and had traveled to Iran, police said at the time.

Israel is currently engaged in a multi-front conflict with Iranian-backed groups notably Hezbollah, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The fighting on all these fronts was sparked by Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which saw militants murder some 1,200 people and return 251 others to Gaza as hostages.

The war in Gaza alone has killed more than 42,000 people, according to the health ministry in the decimated Palestinian enclave run by Hamas, while Lebanese officials say a month of airstrikes and ground operations Incessant Israeli attacks have killed nearly 2,000 people and displaced some 1.2 million from their homes. .

Israel also pledged to retaliate for a missile attack launched by Iran on October 1.

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