TEHRAN – A review of Hebrew media reports in recent weeks shows that even the regime’s own outlets are uncertain about how to address what appears to be a large-scale Iranian infiltration of Israel’s most sensitive military and security sites. 

Some have scrambled to downplay the situation, while those most distant from the current Israeli cabinet have raised concerns—though not with the bluntness of a number of former Israeli officials and military figures who have told independent podcasters and YouTube channels that Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, has failed in countering Iran.

In Iranian media, aside from a months-old video address by Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib—in which he only stated that Iran has many collaborators in Israel who assist for money—there have not been many reliable sources to clarify the exact level of infiltration, which has become evident from the growing number of Israelis arrested in the occupied territories on charges of spying for Iran—at least 40 in 2025.

For the Tehran Times, however, the unprecedented extent of Iran’s infiltration was laid bare when we obtained never-before-seen pictures of a highly protected site in Israel: the Weizmann Institute, more than six months after it was attacked by Iran on June 15 during the 12-day war. Some of the pictures we are releasing today show one of the main buildings of the Weizmann Institute, as well as the area where the complex is located. The images are clear, high-quality, and were taken by a person on the ground.

Israel has imposed heavy restrictions on photographing and publishing the aftermath of Iranian attacks—a prohibition applied to both the public and the press during all three operations Iran carried out against Israel in 2024 and 2025. Furthermore, many of the sites Iran struck during the war are now closed off to the public. Iran’s attack on the Weizmann Institute damaged 65 of its buildings, one of which was completely destroyed and four severely damaged.

Israel and its stenographers in the West have portrayed the Weizmann Institute as a purely scientific and technological center serving humanity. For example, one piece published by The New York Post after the site was targeted claimed Israelis were close to finding "the cure for cancer" before their research was lost in the attack. What the regime and Western media outlets have deliberately omitted is that Iran targeted Weizmann not for its supposed cancer research, but because it functions as a hub for Israel's military technology and is a core pillar of the regime’s military-industrial-academic complex. The attack followed Israel's assassination of several Iranian nuclear scientists during the war—a crime it has been committing repeatedly over the past 15 years.

The institute conducts advanced research in artificial intelligence (AI), which the regime has employed extensively to kill civilians in Gaza, as well as in drone technologies, autonomous systems, encryption, and nuclear weapons. It maintains formal collaborations with major Israeli military contractors, most notably Elbit Systems. It also funnels top students directly into military research careers through programs like Talpiot (run by the IDF) and Havatzalot, which are designed to transition graduates from academic labs to the defense industry. Many of these activities have, of course, been obstructed since the Iranian offensive. The primary building shown in the photographs acquired by the Tehran Times appears still non‑operational, with minimal signs of repair activity. Shortly after the war ended in June, a call circulated on Hebrew social media asking for public donations to restore the facility.

Beyond the crisis of Israelis working for Iranian intelligence for small sums of money, Israel is currently grappling with significant cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The pro-Palestinian hacker group Handala, for instance, recently breached the mobile phone of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, gaining access to its information. This followed a similar successful breach of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s phone.

A source familiar with Iranian intelligence operations in Israel informed the Tehran Times that the extent of data accessed by Iran and pro-Palestine groups like Handala is far greater than what Israeli authorities likely realize.