How Israel Attacked Iran From Inside: The Smuggling Of Weapons, Armed Drones & AI Use Explained

Last Updated:June 24, 2025, 12:59 IST

Israel has built an espionage network in Iran over decades. AI to identify targets to sneaking in weapons, Mossad & military prepared for the June 13 attack for three years

The four satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show an Iranian missile base near Tabriz on June 11 (top left), and the same place after an Israeli strike on June 13 (top right). An Iranian missile base near Kermanshah on June 12 (bottom left), and the same missile base after an Israeli strike on June 13. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

On June 13, as Israeli jets bombed Iran, precision weapons and armed drones smuggled into the country shot down Iranian anti-aircraft missiles from inside Iran. How was this made possible? Through intelligence inputs and systematic infiltration of Iran’s security apparatus.

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had in 2021 claimed that the head of Iran’s counter-Mossad unit was himself an Israeli agent. His words rang true on June 13 as the Israeli press reported the intelligence operations behind Israel’s targeting of key military positions and leaders in Iran this month were on for years. The Economist said it was a multi-million dollar operation.

BOUNCING BACK AFTER OCTOBER 7, 2023

The October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas terrorists who stormed through the Israeli border with bullets and bulldozers and massacred over thousand people was a major setback for Mossad, Israel’s premier spy agency. However, it was quick to bounce back.

In September 2024, Israel’s Mossad executed a sophisticated cyber-sabotage operation, detonating thousands of rigged pagers used by Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, killing dozens and injuring thousands. In July 2024, Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, in Tehran, Iran, using a precision strike.

HOW MOSSAD SMUGGLED IN ARMED DRONES, PRECISION WEAPONS

The Jewish nation has over decades built an extensive espionage network in the Islamic Republic. The Associated Press (AP) spoke to 10 current and former Israeli intelligence and military officials, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the operation. The officials said Mossad’s spies were at work for years.

Israeli officials told AP that Mossad operatives had set up a launch base inside Iran and used explosive drones to strike missile launchers near Tehran. The drones launched from the covert base near the Iranian capital struck Iranian surface-to-surface missile launchers near a key military site.A former intelligence officer familiar with the Israeli operation told the AP that the Mossad and the Israeli military spent at least three years coordinating and preparing the groundwork for the attack.For months, Israeli operatives quietly smuggled parts of hundreds of explosive-laden quadcopter drones, hidden in suitcases, trucks, and shipping containers, along with munitions designed to launch from unmanned platforms, a Wall Street Journal report said.

ISRAEL STRIKES IRAN: THE JUNE 13 ATTACK

When Israel launched its attack, some teams neutralised the air defences, while others struck missile launchers as they emerged from shelters and prepared to fire, the report said. Mossad agents had smuggled precision weapons into Iran that were prepositioned to strike from close range, according to two current security officials who spoke to AP. Those weapons included small, armed drones, which agents snuck into the country in vehicles, according to the former intelligence officer.

Mossad agents stationed weapons close to Iranian surface-to-air missile sites, Shine said. The agency works with a mix of people, both locals and Israelis, she said.

“This is the deepest we’ve ever operated inside Iran," Defrin was quoted as saying by the Wall Street Journal. “We created aerial freedom of action".

The attack built off knowledge Israel gained during a wave of airstrikes last October, which “highlighted the weakness of Iranian air defenses," said Naysan Rafati, an Iran analyst at the Crisis Group.

HOW WAS AI USED?

According to AP, Israel also used artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse intercepted data and satellite imagery, helping identify and prioritise high-value Iranian military and nuclear targets for precision strikes on Iran.

An intelligence officer involved with selecting individuals and sites to target told AP that AI was used to help Israelis quickly sift through troves of data they had obtained.

That effort began last October according to the officer. It was one month before Netanyahu said he had ordered the attack plans.

An investigation by AP earlier this year uncovered that the Israeli military uses US-made AI models in war to sift through intelligence and intercept communications to learn the movements of its enemies. It’s been used in the wars with Hamas in Gaza and with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

IDENTIFYING TARGETS, VEHICLES

The intelligence officer involved in identifying the possible targets said options were first put into various groups, such as leadership, military, civilian and infrastructure.

Targets were chosen if they were determined to be a threat to Israel, such as being deeply associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard — a paramilitary force that controls Iran’s ballistic missiles.The officer was tasked with putting together a list of Iranian generals, including details on where they worked and spent their free time.Another facet of the attack was to strike Iranian vehicles used to transport and launch missiles.Shine said the strategy was similar to a Ukrainian operation earlier this month in Russia. In that operation, nearly a third of Moscow’s strategic bomber fleet was destroyed or damaged with cheaply made drones snuck into Russian territory, according to Ukrainian officials.

In an interview with Iranian state-run television, the country’s police chief, Gen. Ahmadreza Radan, said, “Several vehicles carrying mini-drones and some tactical drones have been discovered…A number of traitors are trying to engage the country’s air defense by flying some mini-drones."

WAS IRAN AWARE?

Former Iranian intelligence minister Ali Younesi had in 2020 warned that “Mossad is closer to us than our own ears".

Iranian state media has not denied the existence of such operations, reporting instead that several suspected Mossad operatives have been arrested since June 13, with some reportedly executed.

A few days ago, the Iranian government ordered senior officials and their security teams not to use smartphones connected to the internet to avoid Israeli hacking of sensitive communications. Iranian security services, meanwhile, are understood to have asked the public to report any building they have rented to companies or individuals in the last couple of years.

NOT THE FIRST TIME

The Mossad is believed to have carried out numerous covert attacks on the Iranian nuclear programme over the years, including cyberattacks and the killing of Iranian nuclear scientists. But it rarely acknowledges such operations.

In the 2000s, Iranian centrifuges used for enriching uranium were destroyed by the so-called Stuxnet computer virus, believed to be an Israeli and American creation.In 2018, Israel stole an archive of Iranian nuclear research that included tens of thousands of pages of records, said Yossi Kuperwasser, a retired general and former military intelligence researcher who now directs the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.

Israel’s blistering attack last week on the heart of Iran’s nuclear and military structure didn’t come out of nowhere, said retired Israeli Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, who heads the Israel Defense and Security Forum think tank. It was the result of “Israeli intelligence working extensively for years in Iran and establishing a very strong robust presence," he said.

“This attack is the culmination of years of work by the Mossad to target Iran’s nuclear programme," Mossad’s former research director, Sima Shine, told AP.

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