Fighting in the dark: How intelligence penetration forced Iran’s hand

The War itself might have lasted twelve days. Still, Iran will be living with its echoes for years, not with the missiles or the scorched targets, but with the knowledge that during those twelve days the regime discovered the enemy within: spies, sabotage, and assassination of the regime’s key figures. The spectre of penetration had shifted from legend into reality. In a revealing Iranian radio interview, Intelligence Minister Ismail Alkhatib revealed Tehran’s deepest fear during its recent 12-day confrontation with Israel and America: that the regime was battling blind, unable to distinguish patriots from traitors among its own ranks. Alkhatib’s admission of perhaps 50 intelligence agencies, regional and international, targeting Iran during the War, with some 30 groups performing assassination […]