14-year-old boy charged with spying, spray-painting messages for Iran in exchange for money

The State Attorney’s Office indicts a 14-year-old boy on espionage charges after he allegedly carried out intelligence missions on Iran’s behalf, including filming the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

The teenager made contact with an Iranian agent online last April and began carrying out tasks for him, earning over $1,170, prosecutors say.

While prosecutors don’t specify when the alleged offenses took place, they say the defendant told his Iranian contact that he couldn’t carry out the mission during the school year, and that it would have to wait until his vacation.

The minor is accused of putting up graffiti messages across Tel Aviv, including one that read, “We are committed to the covenant.”

The defendant also took videos near Ichilov Hospital and in neighborhoods in Ramat Gan, where an elderly couple was recently killed in an Iranian missile strike.

He also captured the location of the Kirya complex in a video depicting Tel Aviv’s skyline.

Prosecutors add that the Iranian agent even enlisted the 14-year-old to rent an apartment near the IDF headquarters. Though the teen allegedly spoke with several landlords about renting in the area, he never secured an apartment.

According to prosecutors, the teen was also asked to spy on Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar as he went about his day and to vandalize his home with the message, “We will take revenge in turn! Ruhollah’s children.”

The boy is indicted today in the Tel Aviv Juvenile Court on charges of maintaining contact with a foreign agent and passing intelligence to the enemy, among other offenses.