As Israeli warplanes moved stealthily toward Iran’s nuclear and military facilities on Friday, a far more intricate operation was already unfolding on the ground. Deep inside Iran, undercover Mossad operatives—disguised and armed—began to emerge from hiding. Alongside them, waves of weaponized drones and explosives concealed in ordinary civilian vehicles were set into motion, moving toward carefully selected targets.
The objectives were clear: senior military commanders, nuclear scientists, and top leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). According to an Israeli security official with direct knowledge of the operation, many of these high-value targets were still "in their beds, in their own homes" when the multi-pronged assault began.
This official, speaking to The Washington Post on condition of anonymity, revealed previously undisclosed details of the operation—one that combined aerial precision with deep-cover sabotage, marking a new chapter in Israel’s shadow war with Iran.
Inside Israel’s Shadow Operation: How Mossad Struck Deep Within Iran
In a bid to highlight the success of the coordinated strikes deep inside Iran, several Israeli officials — along with individuals familiar with the matter — spoke to The Washington Post, on the condition of anonymity due to the operation’s highly classified nature.
The operation began in the early hours of Friday with pinpoint strikes on carefully selected high-value targets. As time passed, the scope of the mission expanded significantly — transitioning from silent assassinations to overt missile and air assaults on Iranian nuclear and military facilities. What started as a covert hit evolved into a full-scale military offensive.
Among the early casualties in the initial phase of the covert action were some of Iran’s most powerful figures: Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces; Major General Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); and Dr. Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, a nuclear physicist and president of Tehran’s Islamic Azad University.
According to a senior Israeli security official, these assassinations were part of a multi-layered operation led by Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service. While the operation gained momentum in recent months, it had been meticulously planned over a much longer period. The official noted that a mix of courageous on-the-ground strategy and calculated deception tactics were instrumental in making the mission a success.
He further revealed that while the United States was tentatively re-engaging Iran in nuclear diplomacy, Israel was simultaneously moving into the final stages of this covert campaign. During this period, Mossad was tasked with smuggling a large cache of specialized weapons into Iran — spreading them discreetly across the country, allowing operatives to strike pre-designated targets at the appointed time.
Details regarding how these weapons were smuggled into Iran remain unclear. The Israeli officials interviewed declined to disclose specifics about Mossad’s methods of infiltration and logistics.
Western security analysts say it may take days or even weeks to fully assess the strategic impact of the Israeli strikes. While the assault appears to have dealt a serious blow to Iran’s alleged nuclear ambitions, some question whether the damage will be long-lasting. Iranian authorities, for their part, continue to insist that their nuclear program is entirely peaceful in nature.
“We Know Where You Are”: Israel’s Threat Campaign Against Iran’s Leadership
The simultaneous killing of multiple high-ranking Iranian officials in Friday's strikes highlighted what analysts are calling a catastrophic failure of internal security in Iran. The fact that Iran was unable to protect its top military leaders, scientists, and IRGC commanders from an adversary that had been planning their assassinations for years, came as a stunning blow.
In a move some compared to psychological warfare or even terrorism, senior Israeli officials issued fresh threats on Friday, warning that the targeted operation to eliminate Iran’s top leadership is not over.
One of the Israeli security officials who had earlier spoken to The Washington Post revealed that Mossad has already sent direct warnings to Iran’s second-tier commanders and key political figures believed to be future assassination targets. The messages were meant to demonstrate that Mossad knows exactly who they are — and where they are.
Some Iranian officials reportedly received anonymous letters slipped under their doors. Others got threatening phone calls — some allegedly to their personal phones, others to family members, including spouses. Each message served to reinforce a chilling point: "You are within reach."
In an unprecedented move, former U.S. President Donald Trump publicly endorsed the Israeli operation on Friday. Posting on social media, Trump wrote of the slain Iranian officials, “They’re all dead now.” He followed up with a stark warning to Iran: if it does not abandon its nuclear ambitions, “even more devastating strikes will follow.”
‘Elimination Phase’: Inside Mossad’s Long-Planned Operation Rising Lion
The first phase of the recent Israeli operation inside Iran is being described by intelligence sources as an “elimination campaign” — a chilling step in a broader mission referred to as Operation Rising Lion, one of Mossad’s largest and most ambitious undertakings in recent years.
This multi-year operation was coordinated jointly by Mossad and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), involving extensive reconnaissance, surveillance, and the compilation of high-value target files. These dossiers contained detailed intelligence on Iranian leaders — including their addresses, underground bunkers, and secret safe houses.
According to a second Israeli security official briefed on the matter, Mossad’s special units recently deployed strike-capable weapons to open spaces near key Iranian air defense systems. These weapons were placed with precision not far from missile defense batteries, with the objective of disabling Iran’s radar and defensive shields just hours before the main assault began.
Mossad had also secretly established a foothold inside Iran, setting up a base for explosive-laden drones over the past several months. In the moments leading up to Friday’s attack, those drones were remotely activated and dispatched toward missile launch complexes located in Esfazabad, near Tehran — a known site for Iran’s surface-to-surface missile programs.
