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Israel Hacked Tehran Traffic Cameras for Years to Target Khamenei: Report

A Financial Times report reveals Israel conducted a years-long cyber operation, hacking Tehran's traffic cameras and mobile networks to monitor Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's movements, leading to his targeted elimination. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu justified the action, stating Iran is committed to destroying America. U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, framed the strike as necessary to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Syed Abbas Araghchi countered that the U.S. entered a "war of choice" and that no Iranian threat ever existed.

Key Points: Israel Hacked Iran Traffic Cameras to Target Khamenei

  • Long-term hack of Tehran traffic cams
  • Pinpointed Khamenei's location
  • Netanyahu justifies strike on Iran
  • U.S. officials cite nuclear threat
  • Iranian FM denies threat existed
3 min read

Israel hacked Iran traffic cameras for years to pinpoint Khaemnei location prior to strike: News report

Financial Times reports Israel spent years hacking Tehran's traffic cameras and phone networks to monitor and eliminate Iran's supreme leader.

"Mr. Rubio admitted what we all knew: U.S. has entered a war of choice on behalf of Israel. - Syed Abbas Araghchi"

Tehran, March 3

A news report from the London based Financial Times has revealed a long term plan hatched by Israel's spy agencies that led to the targeted killing of Iran's erstwhile supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei and members of the top echelon of Iran's military.

According the Financial Times which cited multiple sources, Israel spent years hacking Tehran's traffic cameras and gaining access to mobile phone networks to monitor the movements of Khamenei and his security detail. Nearly all traffic cameras in Tehran had been hacked for years, with footage encrypted and transmitted to servers. The hack allowed the Israeli and American forces to pinpoint Khamenei's location leading to his elimination in a targeted strike.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu justified the strikes on Iran. In an interview to Fox News, Netanyahu said that Islamist regime was committed to destroying America.

"Iran for 47 years has been chanting death to America. They bombed your embassies. They tried to assassinate Donald Trump, the President of the United States, twice. They murdered their own people, they massacred so many. And they spread a worldwide web of terror. This is a regime committed to destroying the United States of America," he said

US Vice President JD Vance further told Fox News that US President Donald Trump wanted to ensure that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon.

"What the president determined is he didn't want to just keep the country safe from an Iranian nuclear weapon for the first three, four years of his second term. He wanted to make sure that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon, and that would require fundamentally a change in mind set from the Iranian regime. So he saw that the Iranian regime was weakened, he knew that they were committed to getting on that brink of a nuclear weapon, and he decided to take action because he felt that was necessary in order to protect the nation's security," Vance told Fox News.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the current wave of retaliation from Iran showed what they could have been capable of in the future had the strike not been carried out

"This operation needed to happen because Iran, in about a year... they would have so many short-range missiles, so many drones, that no one could do anything about it... look at the damage they're doing now, and this is a weakened Iran. Imagine a year from now. The bottom line is no matter who governs that country a year from now, they're not going to have these ballistic missiles and they're not going to have these drones to threaten us. That's the objective of this mission," Rubio said in a news conference.

That line was met with an immediate counter from Syed Abbas Araghchi the Iranian Foreign Minister who said that Rubio had proven that there was no such thing as an Iranian threat.

"Mr. Rubio admitted what we all knew: U.S. has entered a war of choice on behalf of Israel. There was never any so-called Iranian "threat". Shedding of both American and Iranian blood is thus on Israel Firsters. American people deserve better and should take back their country," he posted on X.

The conflict in West Asia continues unabated as the Iranian leadership targets the Gulf States and American assets in the region, while the United States says that the hardest hits from the US Armed forces are yet to come.

- ANI

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Reader Comments

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Priya S
While I understand the security concerns, a targeted killing of a head of state sets a very dangerous precedent in international relations. It's not just about Iran or Israel; it normalizes assassination as a tool of foreign policy. Where does it end? 😟
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Rohit P
The American VP's statement is the most concerning part for me. "A change in mindset from the Iranian regime" sounds like a call for regime change. We've seen how that worked in Iraq and Afghanistan. This could plunge the entire region into chaos for decades.
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Aman W
As an Indian, my primary worry is the stability of West Asia. Millions of our brothers and sisters work there. Any major war will disrupt oil supplies, send fuel prices through the roof here, and could lead to a massive evacuation crisis. Our government needs a solid contingency plan.
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Sarah B
The Iranian Foreign Minister has a point. If the US Secretary of State admits the strike was pre-emptive based on future capability, not an imminent threat, then it was indeed a war of choice. The justification seems to be shifting after the fact.
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Karthik V
Respectfully, I have to criticize the article's tone a bit. It's very focused on the "how" of the hacking, but not enough on the massive human cost and escalation this action causes. The real story is the ordinary people in Iran and across the region who will suffer the most. 🇮🇳

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