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On 25 October, the prosecutor’s office filed an indictment with the Haifa District Court against seven residents of the city who, over the past two years, have become part of an Iranian spy network, performing intelligence tasks for Iran for a monetary reward. This is reported by the news portal TimeUkraineIsrael with reference to Israeli Channel 9.
Charges and details of the investigation
The defendants in the case are accused of crimes against security, aiding the enemy during the war, passing information to the enemy and other serious offences. The prosecutor’s office filed a motion to extend their detention until the investigation is completed.
The investigation revealed that the seven Haifa residents acted in an organised manner, following instructions from an Iranian agent. They gathered information and took photographs of military installations, including the Nevatim and Ramat David air force bases, the Ministry of Defence’s Kiriya complex in Tel Aviv, the Iron Dome batteries and other strategic locations.
Key figures and their roles
The main accused and the leader of the group is Aziz Nisanov (43), who established contact with Iranian operators and recruited other members. His deputy was 58-year-old Alexander Sedikov, who was responsible for managing the group, distributing tasks and paying network members.
The defendants also include two minors who took photographs and sent them to Iranian cameramen in return for money. The other defendants in the case are Igal Nissan (20), Nissan’s son, Vyacheslav Goshchin (46) and Yevgeny Yoffe (47) from Nof HaGalil.
Secret tasks and motivation
The members of the spy group completed hundreds of tasks for the Iranians, collecting information on important sites in Israel, military bases and individuals, knowing that their actions could harm the state. The Iranian supervisor was a man named Ilhan Aghayev, who was assisted by another foreign agent with the call sign “Orhan”. They were in constant contact with the defendants, recruiting them to perform various tasks related to intelligence gathering.
In particular, the Iranians asked Nisanov to gather information about a researcher in gas engineering at the University of Haifa. He needed to know everything about her relatives, car and work schedule. To avoid suspicion, Nisanov made up excuses for them – that they worked as tour guides. For each completed task, the group members received between $500 and $1,200, earning a total of about $300,000.
Conclusions and implications
The prosecutor’s office stressed that this case is one of the most serious security crimes in Israel’s history, committed by its citizens who were aware that they were acting against the interests of the state and in favour of Iran.
The spy scandal has prompted deep reflections on security and national integrity, highlighting the need to monitor more closely possible threats from external enemies.
