Israel charges Russian with allegedly spying for Iran

JERUSALEM, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Israel has charged a Russian citizen with spying for Iran, including photographing Israeli ports and infrastructure under the direction of Iranian intelligence agencies, Israel’s police and its internal security agency said on Friday.

The Russian individual was then paid in digital currency, the police and agency said in a joint statement.

A decades-long shadow war between Israel and Iran escalated into a direct war in June when Israel struck various targets inside Iran, including through operations that relied on Mossad commandos being deployed deep inside the country.

Israel has arrested dozens of citizens who allegedly spied for Iran, in what sources told Reuters has been Tehran’s biggest effort in decades to infiltrate its arch foe.

The arrests followed repeated efforts by Iranian intelligence operatives over the years to recruit ordinary Israelis to gather intelligence and carry out attacks in exchange for money.

In a statement sent to media in 2024 following a wave of arrests by Israel of Jewish citizens suspected of spying for Iran, Iran’s U.N. mission did not confirm or deny seeking to recruit Israelis and said that “from a logical standpoint” any such efforts by Iranian intelligence services would focus on non-Iranian and non-Muslim individuals to lessen suspicion.

Iran has executed many individuals it accuses of having links with Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and facilitating its operations in the country.

(Reporting by Emily Rose, Editing by William Maclean)