Israel Matzav

Iran tried to set up terror infrastructure in Israel

A week ago, I reported on the arrest of Ali Mansouri, an Iranian spy who was caught by the Shin Bet, Israel's General Security Service. A former division commander in the Shin Bet says that Mansouri wasn't just seeking information - he was also trying to set up a terror infrastructure.

This time, it appears that the recruitment and running of the agent was carried out by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's special operations unit (Quds Force), rather than by the Iranian intelligence agency.

Among other things, the role of the Quds Force is to execute terror attacks against Israel and additional targets in the West and in the Middle East. The significance of this is that Mansouri was not sent to Israel to spy and collect intelligence like his predecessors, but rather to establish an infrastructure to carry out terror attacks within Israel.

It warrants noting that the Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force was behind the February 2012 terror attack in which an employee of the Israeli embassy in Delhi was wounded, and was also responsible for attempted terror attacks in Bangkok and Tblisi, Georgia, as well as previous plots in Azerbaijan, Kenya and Nigeria.

That's not all that's new about this attack. 

An additional important fact, which displays a new pattern in Iran's strategy against Israel, is that the process was completely compartmentalized from Iran's general intelligence establishment, and it was reminiscent of Western intelligence operations.

The Iranians identified Mansouri based on his characteristics and skills, which included Iranian origins, Belgian citizenship and a worldwide business background. The recruitment of Mansouri was a prolonged process, and he was provided with an intricate cover story with all of his movements and actions effectively disguised. These measures were taken in order to hide the fact that he had repeatedly entered and left Iran, and that he had Iranian citizenship.

Mansouri was arrested during his third visit to Israel, however, that does not necessarily mean that he was not discovered beforehand. The eternal dillema of preventative intelligence is deciding at what stage to arrest a suspect in order to best serve the ultimate interest: collecting the maximum amount of information about the agent and his actions, particularly in regard to his connections with additional operatives.

The arrest of Mansouri while he was attempting to depart Israel at Ben-Gurion Airport was not random, nor was it solely the result of the airport autorities' security procedures.

The writer of the column, Lior Akerman, seems very confident that most Iranian spies are caught. I'm not sure there's any way to determine that.

Labels: Iran, Islamic terrorism, spying

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:18 AM