The New Arab:

Four years ago, while Iran's leadership and Revolutionary Guard commanders boasted that Israel would never dare attack the country, Ali Younesi, Minister of Intelligence from 1999 to 2006, warned of Mossad's deep reach inside Iran’s leadership.

"The influence of Mossad in various sectors is so extensive that every official of the Islamic Republic should fear for their life. Ignoring Mossad allowed them to infiltrate and strike. Today, we have every reason to be worried about everything," Younesi said at the time.

His warning in 2021 was dismissed and even mocked by some commanders at Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)

That same year, former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed: "The highest official in charge of fighting Israeli spies, the one tasked with countering Israeli plots in Iran, turned out to be a spy himself."

And then the 12-day war between Israel, the United States, and Iran showed those warnings were not unfounded.

In the opening hours, four top military commanders and two nuclear scientists tied to Iran's nuclear program were killed by missiles or drones, either at home or during military meetings. By the end of the war, 38 senior commanders and 10 nuclear scientists were dead.

The Islamic Republic's official narrative tried to downplay these losses. But two months later, statements from political and security figures, and remarks from families of the dead, revealed the scale of Israel's penetration inside Iran's armed forces and intelligence services.

Shortly after the war, Javad Mansouri, the IRGC's first commander, raised the case of Alireza Akbari, executed in 2023 on charges of spying, highlighting the deep level of infiltration. "We had another spy named Akbari who rose to deputy head of the Supreme National Security Council. He was practically running it. Do you think that was just one case?"

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