Israel had been reportedly surveilling Iran for years before deciding to attack the country’s nuclear operations earlier this month. Its spy agency, Mossad, concluded that Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs had advanced more than previously known.
The attack proved successful, killing several top Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists and damaging nuclear operations. Israel bombed Iran several other times as the two countries entered into a 12-day conflict that ended with an American-brokered ceasefire after the United States also bombed Iranian nuclear facilities.
Israel had been preparing its attack against Iran since at least 2010, according to the Times.
Its intelligence included on-site spies who laid out detailed plans of nuclear facilities such as Natanz. Spies mapped the facility, “identifying overground and underground buildings which included piping, feeding and solidification of uranium,” according to the report.
The country targeted the facilities’ electrical infrastructure and also hit ventilation and cooling ducts, likely with the help of the detailed intelligence from the inside.
Israeli intelligence also assisted in the targeting of several other weapons development locations, such as a facility in Isfahan, the Nur and Mogdeh locations for calculation and labs, the Shariati military facility, and a large hangar at Shahid Meisami, which manufactured the plastic explosives used for testing nuclear weapons.
Also, according to newly revealed intelligence, there was an infiltration of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Sanjarian nuclear site, which Israeli officials said was involved in the creation of nuclear weapons. The Guard had been decimated by Israeli strikes on leadership, which killed several commanders and leaders of its air defense and aerospace forces.
“These architects of terrorism are officially done terrorizing the world,” Israeli military officials said after the attacks.
Iran was “within weeks” away from nuclear capability, according to the intelligence. Its nuclear ability has been hotly debated, given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statements over the last two decades that often indicated Iran was close to a nuclear weapon, prompting Israel to take action to delay Tehran multiple times.
According to a document viewed by the outlet, Israel covertly visited every workshop and factory that was later attacked, enabling Israel to target “the entire industry that supported the manufacturing of large amounts of missiles.” Iran was planning to produce dozens of long-range missiles a month, aiming to amass a stock of 8,000 missiles. Iran began its war with Israel with around 2,000 to 2,500 missiles.
Israeli intelligence also probed the possibility of assassinating Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but President Donald Trump reportedly called off a hit on the Iranian supreme leader. Iran took extensive measures to protect its leader, hiding him in a bunker deep underground and using an aide to deliver messages from him to other leaders to prevent any electrical signatures giving him away.
Trump said he knew “exactly” where the Iranian leader was hiding but did not let Israel or the U.S. kill him, confirming reports that suggested the same.
“I saved him from a very ugly and ignominious death,” Trump said, adding that he demanded Israel bring back “a very large group of planes, which were heading directly to Tehran, looking for a big day, perhaps the final knockout!”
Trump has been criticizing any suggestion that the U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities did anything but annihilate them.
“Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images,” he said. “Obliteration is an accurate term! The white structure shown is deeply imbedded into the rock, with even its roof well below ground level, and completely shielded from flame. The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!”
IRAN LAUNCHES RESPONSE TO US STRIKES. WILL IT STOP THERE OR ESCALATE?
Israeli intelligence likely assisted in assessing damage to Iranian nuclear facilities. A leaked partial preliminary intelligence report suggested that the attacks delayed Iran’s nuclear program by just months. Iran’s foreign minister said the attacks did “excessive and serious” damage to the nuclear facilities.
Dr. Efrat Sopher, an Iranian Israeli analyst, told the outlet that “Israel has been observing activities inside Iran” for decades. He added that Mossad’s Iranian operation and its operations against its proxies “will be chronicled in the history books.”