The police and Shin Bet security service have arrested two IDF reservists for alleged espionage on behalf of Iran in return for financial compensation, a police spokesman says in a statement.
Police say the primary suspect, Yuri Eliasfov, served in the IDF’s Iron Dome air defense unit and passed along classified material obtained during his military service to his Iranian handler.
Contact between Eliasfov and the Iranian agent began in September 2024, according to Haaretz.
Months later, Eliasfov recruited his friend, Georgi Andreyev, into the espionage scheme, putting him in contact with the same Iranian agent.
Andreyev served in the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Both suspects spray-painted graffiti and hung banners in Tel Aviv carrying the slogan “Children of Ruhollah,” referring to Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s first supreme leader following the Islamic Revolution.
Police accuse the two 21-year-old suspects, both from northern Israel, of security offenses — transferring classified information and aiding the enemy during wartime. Prosecutors are expected to file an indictment against them in the coming days.
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