TEHRAN – A successful Iranian intelligence operation (or string of them) was brought to the open on Saturday, as the country’s national television announced Iran had obtained a trove of sensitive and strategic documents related to Israel’s nuclear facilities.

Informed sources told IRIB that the documents were brought into Iran some time ago, but intelligence forces required time to analyze them before breaking the news. The sources added that this infiltration represents one of the most significant security breaches Israel has suffered.

With the backing of the United States and France, Israel is believed to have maintained an operational nuclear program since the 1960s and currently possesses at least 90 nuclear warheads. Despite repeated calls by high-ranking Israeli officials to use nuclear weapons against Palestinians or other populations in the region, no international body has ever produced a report on the scope or status of the regime's nuclear arsenal. To this day, much of the publicly available information comes from a former technician at the Dimona nuclear facility, who exposed the regime’s concerning nuclear program to the British press in 1986. He was subsequently convicted of treason and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

The Saturday announcement came just two weeks after Israeli authorities declared they had arrested two men suspected of committing “security crimes” for Iran. While it's unclear whether these arrests are directly related to the recent nuclear infiltration, the number of Israelis arrested for alleged cooperation with Iranian intelligence has risen sharply in recent years.

Personally, appearing on national TV Sunday, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib said the volume of documents obtained was so immense that “thousands of documents’ is a gross understatement compared to what has been acquired."

“These documents and other strategic records of the regime will enhance Iran’s offensive capabilities,” Khatib explained, before clarifying that the “strategic”, “operational”, and “scientific” information was collected through complex operations inside the occupied territories. He also noted that the methods used to transfer the records would not be disclosed, but some documents would be published in the future. Among the “treasure trove” of information are details about Israel’s relations with Washington and European states as well. 

Reactions in Israel

The regime’s officials have yet to issue any comments on the reported infiltration. Israeli media, however, have tried not to sweep the matter under the rug. 

Some Hebrew media outlets, including Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post, have drawn parallels between the recent operation and a hacking incident at the Negev Nuclear Research Center last year. The Tehran Times understands the two events to be unrelated. The earlier cyberattack granted access to some documents and erased information from several computer systems.

Other Israeli outlets did not shy away from sounding the alarm bell. Calling the event "concerning," the Hebrew-language Maariv daily newspaper ran the headline: "A concerning report: Iran has stolen Israel’s secret nuclear documents." Maariv reported that Iranian intelligence had "succeeded" in acquiring "thousands of confidential documents related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and strategic projects," transporting them to secure locations inside Iran. Another Israeli Hebrew-language daily, Israel Hayom, citing Iranian media and the al-Mayadeen network, emphasized that the documents include highly sensitive information about Israel’s nuclear program.

Israel’s second major security failure in 20 months

Iran’s latest intelligence operation marks potentially the second major security failure for Israel, following the regime's inability to foresee the Palestinian Resistance groups' Operation Al-Aqsa Storm on October 7, 2023. In that attack, Palestinian fighters breached what the regime had touted as highly complex security systems, entering the occupied territories from Gaza and controlling several Israeli settlements for hours. That event shattered the regime's long-held image of "invincibility," a myth further undermined by Tehran's recent success in penetrating Israel's highly protected nuclear sites.

Depending on what information Tehran chooses to reveal about Israel’s nuclear program, the newly obtained records could also bolster Iran’s position in ongoing nuclear talks with the United States.