Head Of Top Iranian Secret Service Monitoring Mossad Was Israeli Spy, Iran's Ex-President Reveals

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (AP photo)

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed that the head of Iran's anti-Mossad intelligence unit was an Israeli agent, alongside 20 others, responsible for key operations in Iran.

Days after reports claimed an Iranian informant provided Israel with crucial intelligence that led to the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has revealed the head of Israel’s national intelligence agency Mossad, operational in Iran to counter Israeli espionage, was himself an Israeli national.

In an interview with CNN-Turk, Ahmadinejad also said Iran’s secret services had created a special unit to combat Mossad operating in Iran, and that 20 other agents were also involved.

The alleged double agents were providing Israel with sensitive information on the Iranian nuclear program, according to his comments in the interview.

“The boss of the Iranian anti-Mossad intelligence agency was a Mossad agent,” he said.

“Iran’s secret services had created a special unit to combat Mossad operating in Iran. It turns out the head of this unit was himself a Mossad agent, along with 20 other agents, who were responsible for multiple operations in Iran, including stealing nuclear documents and assassinating several Iranian nuclear scientists before fleeing to Israel,” CNN-Turk tweeted quoting Ahmadinejad.

The revelation comes following Ahmadinejad’s rejection of his candidacy for Iran’s June 2024 presidential elections.

According to the previous report, the informant had tipped off Israeli forces about Nasrallah’s location just hours before the attack, which took place at his highly secure underground headquarters in Dahieh, a southern suburb of Beirut.

The attack involved dropping six two-ton bombs, creating a massive 30-meter-deep crater and destroying two neighbouring buildings.

The explosion was reportedly heard as far away as downtown Beirut. This strike is considered one of the largest against Hezbollah since 2006 and marks a significant blow to the organization following Nasrallah’s death.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since October 8, the day after Hamas sent fighters into Israel and sparked the war in Gaza. It has been almost a year since some 250 people were abducted from Israel.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military began what it called a “limited, localised” operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, carrying out “targeted ground raids” in villages close to the Israeli border. The targets, it said, pose an “immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel.”

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning Monday to Iran, which backs Hezbollah and Hamas.

“There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach,” Netanyahu said, just days after an airstrike south of Beirut killed the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which is backed by Tehran.

Hezbollah’s acting leader, Naim Kassem, promised the group would fight following the death Friday of its long-time chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Israel has also assassinated several of the group’s top commanders in recent days.