Israel allegedly infiltrated Iran’s site visitors digital camera community for years to monitor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and different senior Iranian officers forward of his assassination on Saturday.
That is in keeping with a report by the {Financial} Instances citing Israeli intelligence sources.
The newspaper mentioned practically all site visitors cameras in Tehran had been compromised, with footage encrypted and transmitted to servers in Tel Aviv and southern Israel as a part of a broader intelligence operation involving cyber intrusion, human belongings and superior knowledge analytics.
In response to the publication, one present Israeli intelligence official described how detailed surveillance allowed analysts to detect even minor irregularities in day by day routines, saying “we knew Tehran like we all know Jerusalem”
The report mentioned one digital camera supplied a transparent vantage level of the place bodyguards and drivers hooked up to senior officers parked their autos, enabling intelligence officers to construct an in depth “sample of life” profile round Pasteur Avenue in Tehran, the place key authorities establishments are situated and the place Khamenei was killed.
The actual-time knowledge stream reportedly contributed to coordination between Israeli intelligence and the Central Intelligence Company in figuring out the timing of a Saturday morning assembly at Khamenei’s places of work, which officers thought of an opportune second to strike alongside different senior Iranian figures.
The late Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on Saturday February 28, 2026 after a collection of coordinated strikes by the US and Israel.
Final 12 months, Bloomberg reported that Iran had accessed non-public safety cameras in Israel to collect real-time intelligence. Following Iranian missile strikes on high-rise buildings in Tel Aviv, a former Israeli cybersecurity official publicly warned residents to change off residence surveillance cameras or change default passwords.
Cybersecurity consultants have lengthy warned that many surveillance cameras stay susceptible on account of weak passwords, outdated firmware and poor set up practices.
A report by US cybersecurity rankings agency BitSight final 12 months discovered that 1000’s of cameras have been streaming on-line with out password safety or different safeguards, making them accessible to unauthorised customers.
