Israel hacked nearly all of Tehran’s traffic cameras to spy on Ali Khamenei before launching an attack to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader.
Israeli spies spent years surveilling the Ayatollah’s bodyguards by accessing the Iranian capital’s traffic camera network, intelligence sources claimed.
Operatives were even reported to have hacked a security camera facing Khamenei’s compound that showed where security guards would park their cars.
The camera enabled spies to know when the Ayatollah would be at home and disrupt mobile phone service around his compound so aides would not be able to call for help in the case of an ambush.
Details of the Mossad operation were first reported by the Financial Times as Israel launched a ground invasion of Lebanon on day four of the war.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, said the operation against Iran was “well ahead of schedule” but warned that “the big wave hasn’t even happened yet”.
Interim leaders in Iran have formed a council that will eventually select a new Supreme Leader to replace Khamenei.
He is the highest-profile leader to be assassinated by Israel since Oct 7, following the killings of the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas.
The hacked traffic camera images in Tehran were encrypted and transmitted to Israel, allowing intelligence officials to determine the addresses, hours of work, routes and duties of Iran’s most senior security personnel before the US-Israeli attack at the weekend.
“We knew Tehran like we know Jerusalem,” one Israeli intelligence official told the Financial Times. “And when you know [a place] as well as you know the street you grew up on, you notice a single thing that’s out of place.”
Israel’s intelligence superiority over Iran was on display during last year’s 12-day war, when a joint operation with the US hit Iranian military bases and nuclear facilities and assassinated more than a dozen nuclear scientists and senior officials.
In the latest US-Israeli barrage, known as Operation Epic Fury, Israel reportedly employed a method called social network analysis to study patterns of behaviour and better understand how people interact.
With this intelligence, Israel and the CIA determined it would be easier to kill Khamenei at the start of the assault, rather than targeting him in the midst of a war when he could escape to a bunker.
An individual briefed on the attack told the Financial Times that the assault on Iran had been planned for months, but the timeline was adjusted once it was revealed that Khamenei would be attending a meeting at his compound in person on Saturday morning.
On the day, thanks to the hacked traffic cameras and access to Iranian mobile phone networks, at least two Israeli intelligence officers, working independently, were able to confirm that Khamenei’s meeting was on time.
Mr Trump told Fox News that Khamenei “was eliminated along with his inner circle as they gathered for breakfast”.
The Israeli military said that striking during the day, instead of at night, had “allowed Israel to achieve tactical surprise for the second time, despite heavy Iranian preparedness”.
Israel had deployed jets hours earlier so they would arrive at the right location on time and fired as many as 30 precision strikes on Khamenei’s complex, according to a former senior Israeli intelligence official.
The US military launched cyber attacks in order to allow the Israeli jets to reach the compound.
Speaking to reporters on Monday morning, General Dan Caine, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said that the initial phase of the operation was “designed to daze and confuse” Iran.
“Coordinated space and cyber operations effectively disrupted communications and sensor networks across the area of responsibility, leaving the adversary without the ability to see, coordinate, or respond effectively,” he added.
On Sunday, officials from the Trump administration acknowledged that there was no intelligence showing that Iran was prepared to attack the US first. US Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee, said there was no imminent threat from Iran to America.
After a classified briefing on Monday, Mike Johnson, the US Speaker, told reporters that Israel had been “determined to act with or without the US” and “consequences of inaction on our part would have been devastating”.
