Israel says it thwarted Iranian assassination plot – Washington Examiner

Israeli officials announced Thursday the arrest of an Israeli man whom Iran recruited to carry out assassination plots against top Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The individual was identified as Moti Maman, 73. He was indicted Thursday, after which Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency, and Israeli police revealed it publicly. Maman was arrested after committing security offenses involving his contact with Iran.

Maman was smuggled into Iran twice, according to details from the investigation, and he received funds from Iran to carry out missions on Tehran’s behalf, including asking him to “advance assassination attacks” on Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, or the head of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar. Other Israeli leaders were named as well.

Maman previously resided in Turkey and, in April of this year, through the mediation of two Turks, agreed to meet an Iranian businessman to discuss a business opportunity. He was ultimately smuggled into Iran via a land crossing after the businessman was unable to leave his country.

When he was in Iran for the second time in August, Maman met with the Iranian businessman and another individual who identified himself as a member of Iran’s security force. During the conversation, the businessman suggested Maman help carry out missions for the regime in Israel, including passing money or weapons along to others, conducting surveillance, and threatening other Israelis turned by the Iranians who were not carrying out their missions.

A senior Shin Bet official described the case to the Times of Israel as a “very serious affair, which is an example of the great efforts of the Iranian intelligence agencies to recruit Israeli citizens to advance terror activities in Israel.”

Shin Bet said Iran viewed the assassination plots as revenge for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran in late July, which has been attributed to Israel. Tehran vowed to avenge Haniyeh’s death but did not carry out a major response in the immediate aftermath of it.

Israel said it thwarted a separate bombing attempt by Hezbollah targeting former Israeli military officials earlier this week. The arrest was made amid what is believed to be an unprecedented Israeli intelligence operation to sabotage and detonate Hezbollah’s hand-held communication devices, which has resulted in the deaths of a couple dozen people and injured thousands more people.

The United States has also accused Tehran of plotting to assassinate senior U.S. officials, including former President Donald Trump, in retaliation for the January 2020 assassination of senior Iranian military leader Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Pakistani national Asif Merchant pleaded not guilty Monday to terrorism and murder-for-hire charges for his alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate the former president. He arrived in the U.S. in April and reached out to someone he believed could help carry out the plan. However, that individual went to law enforcement and became a confidential informant, later introducing him to two purported hitmen, though they were actually undercover U.S. law enforcement officials.

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Iran’s threats toward U.S. officials go further than just Trump. They also include members of his administration who were in place at the time of the Soleimani strike.

The Justice Department unsealed charges in August 2022 accusing Shahram Poursafi, an Iranian national and IRGC member, of attempting to arrange the murder of then-Trump national security adviser John Bolton. Poursafi was accused of agreeing to pay an informant $300,000 to kill him, and the Iranian noted he had an additional “job” for the individual, which he’d pay a million dollars for the source to accomplish.

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