Iran was been dealt another humiliating blow on the world stage after a former president admitted that an anti-Mossad intelligence unit had been infiltrated by Mossad itself.
Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, is thought to have extensively infiltrated the Iranian intelligence services, leading to a series of recent wins for Israel in its war against Hamas and Hezbollah. This includes the deaths of almost the entire top tier of Hezbollah’s command structure, including the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The mass pager detonation earlier in September is also thought to be a stunning intelligence coup for Mossad, although Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack.
Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad told CNN Turk that Iranian intelligence had set up a special unit to combat Mossad activities.
Embarrassingly, he revealed that the head of the secret unit turned out to be a secret Mossad agent.
The unit – allegedly run by an Israeli agent – was ironically tasked with rooting out Israeli spies.
Mr Ahmedinejad added that “another 20 members were Mossad agents”.
He told CNN that the double agent provided Israel with sensitive information on the Iranian nuclear program, and led to key Israeli assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists in recent years.
Mr Ahmadinejad claimed that the counterintelligence unit head and his 20 moles were able to flee to Israel after their identities and the mass infiltration were revealed.
This comes after reports in French media, citing a Lebanese source, that Israel was tipped off about Nasrallah’s presence by an Iranian mole before Friday airstrike’s on his Beirut bunker.
The stunning Israeli victories against Hamas and Hezbollah in recent weeks have prompted paranoid Iranian officials to panic.
The day after Nasrallah’s killing, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was rushed to a secure location inside Iran amid heightened security, sources told Reuters.
Last month, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps reportedly ordered all of its members to stop using any type of communication devices after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah blew up.
In July, the Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed by an explosion at a Tehran guesthouse where he was staying during a visit to attend the funeral of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi.
In response, Iran arrested at least two dozen people inside the country for suspected connection to the assassination. It is thought that a major security breach among high-ranking officials was behind the assassination.
Meanwhile, Israel has launched an invasion into Lebanon this morning following weeks of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets.
An Israeli security official told the BBC there have been “no clashes” yet – but a military spokesman urged people in around 30 Lebanese villages to evacuate.