Four suspects, including IDF soldiers and former students at the Israeli Air Force technical school in Haifa, were charged Friday in Haifa District Court with maintaining contact with Iranian agents and carrying out a series of tasks for them during the war.
The indictment says the defendants, residents of Kiryat Yam and Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel, documented and transferred information about civilian and security sites across Israel. All four — three soldiers and one civilian — were about 17 at the time of the alleged offenses. Their names are barred from publication. Two of them studied at the Air Force technical school.
According to the indictment, the defendants were in contact from January to March 2025 through the Telegram messaging app with people who presented themselves as Iranian agents using the usernames “NOVITAMIN” and “CLARK.”
The indictment says the defendants carried out dozens of tasks across Israel while aware that they were in contact with foreign agents acting on behalf of Iran.
The defendants allegedly documented and sent the Iranian agents videos, photos and locations of various sites, including the Air Force technical school in Haifa, Tel Aviv’s Savidor Central railway station, the Lev Hamifratz central bus station, the Lev Hamifratz mall, Haifa City Hall, the Kiryat Yam municipal building, Haifa’s Sail Tower several months before it was hit by an Iranian missile in June, streets and buildings in Haifa, Raanana and Nahariya, parking lots near central buildings, security cameras on Masada Street in Haifa, businesses and other public compounds.
One defendant allegedly documented the electrical laboratory at the Air Force technical school on his own initiative after presenting it to an Iranian agent as an air force base.
The indictment also says the defendants carried out tasks meant to test their willingness to perform operational missions, including puncturing car tires, hiding notes and objects at various locations in Israel and documenting the actions for their Iranian handlers.
One defendant allegedly offered to send an Iranian agent photos of F-16 fighter jets and their locations at the Air Force technical school in Haifa in exchange for 15,000 shekels, about $5,100. The Iranian agent rejected the offer and instead asked for the locations of Iron Dome air defense systems, offering 5,000 shekels, about $1,700, for each location sent. The defendant refused.
According to prosecutors, the Iranian agents also proposed more serious security tasks, including photographing sensitive sites, planting a GPS device under a vehicle, purchasing weapons and setting vehicles on fire.
Some of the tasks were rejected by the defendants. Meanwhile, prosecutors said, some of them continued carrying out other tasks for the same Iranian handlers in exchange for thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency.
The indictment charges the four with contacting a foreign agent, providing intelligence to aid the enemy, soliciting national security offenses, aiding the transfer of intelligence to aid the enemy, aiding contact with a foreign agent and intentionally damaging a vehicle.
The four were arrested in March in a joint operation by the Shin Bet security agency, the military, the Asher District police crime unit and Lahav 433, the police's national crime and corruption investigative unit.
“This case joins a series of recent cases that point to repeated efforts by hostile terrorist and intelligence elements to recruit Israeli citizens to carry out missions intended to harm the security of the State of Israel and its residents,” the security bodies said in a joint statement.
The statement also warned Israelis against maintaining contact with foreign parties or carrying out tasks for them.
“All security and law enforcement bodies will act to bring all those involved in such activity to justice to the fullest extent of the law,” the statement said. “The public is asked to continue reporting to the Shin Bet or Israel Police any suspicious approach received from an unidentified party seeking the performance of various tasks.”