Israel has filed charges against yet another Israeli citizen accused of spying on behalf of Iran.
This marks the 30th Israeli and the 15th Iranian espionage cell tagged by the Israeli authorities in the last six months—a seemingly never-ending stream of Iranian successes in recruiting Israelis.
. . . No. 30 charged
Most of the cells were exposed quickly and were small bore, with the arrested people rarely accused of more than cases of writing graffiti on walls and firebombing private cars.
The latest case, however, is more serious, with the accused charged with treason in addition to other offenses.
The accused is Eduard Yusupov, a 65-year-old immigrant from Azerbaijan. Yusupov is accused of carrying out various acts of espionage for an Iranian agent and receiving $41,000 in payment for his work, offenses that carry sentences of up to 15 years in prison.
According to the indictment, Yusupov contacted an old Azerbaijani acquaintance of his by the name of Tair last November. Tair then introduced him to a man named Mousa, who claimed to be an Azerbaijani living in Dubai who wanted to open a business in Israel. But he was actually an Iranian agent and, communicating via WhatsApp, gave Yusupov a series of spying missions to carry out.
At Mousa’s request, Yusupov collected, photographed and documented information about “national infrastructure sites” around the country, including military bases, the Haifa port, as well as parks, libraries, zoos, and commercial and leisure centers. He also gathered information about the Dimona nuclear site, where Israel reportedly builds its nuclear weapons.
Yusupov rented an apartment for Mousa in Haifa with a view of the port from where he photographed ships and industrial sites within the port zone.
“The accused committed security offenses at a time when the State of Israel was conducting one of the toughest wars it has known, on multiple fronts, including against Iran,” the prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
. . . No. 1 convicted
“The accused suspected that Mousa was a foreign agent who was hostile to the State of Israel, but continued to cooperate with him.”
Before the hearing, reporters asked why he did what he did, but Yusupov declined to answer. Most of the many spies recruited by Iran over social media have said they needed money.
Meanwhile, the first of those 30 Israelis arrested for working on behalf of the Islamic Republic has been convicted by an Israeli court and sentenced to 12 years for spying.
Moti Maman, 73, was accused of discussing many espionage chores on behalf of Iran. He was also asked to organize the assassination of the prime minister and defense minister. He demanded money up front, which Iran declined to pay him, so that project never advanced.
Maman’s son testified that his father apologized for what he had done and asked for mercy. The prosecution, however, argued, “There is a vital need for deterrence”—a line of reasoning that seemed to have much impact given that since last October Israeli police have arrested 30 people recruited by Iran.
But he appears to have done nothing in the end. He was sentenced February 26 to 12 years in prison, a term his attorney called “unfounded.”
His lawyer also said Maman’s children serve in the Israeli security forces.
Maman was recruited by Iran while living and working in Turkiye. Unlike others who were recruited in Israel over social media, Maman traveled to Iran and spoke face-to-face with his Iranian handlers.
In May 2024, the Israeli citizen was smuggled into Iran through the land border near Van, Turkiye. During meetings, Maman was asked “to carry out various security missions within Israel for the Iranian regime, including: transferring money or a gun at predetermined points, photographing various crowded places in the country and sending them to Iranian elements, and threatening other Israeli citizens activated in the country by the Iranian regime who did not complete requested tasks.”
In August, the accused entered Iran for a second time, this time smuggled over the border in a truck. He met other Iranian “intelligence agents” who asked him “to carry out terrorist activities for Iran on Israeli soil, including organizing assassination attacks on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu or Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, or on Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.” The Israeli demanded $1 million ahead of any operations, which was denied.
At a meeting with Iranian officials the day after, they explored the “possibility of him depositing money at points throughout Israel for others, locating Russian and American elements for eliminating opponents of the Iranian regime in Europe and the US, and recruiting a Mossad agent.”
Before leaving Iranian soil, he received 5,000 euros for participating in the meetings, the police and Shin Bet said. It did not appear that Maman in the end did anything of significance for the Islamic Republic.
