Suspected Iran spies accused of plotting assassination of ‘senior figure’ in Israel

State prosecutors filed an indictment Thursday against two young men from Tiberias accused of carrying out missions on Iran’s behalf, including a plot to assassinate a “senior figure” in Israel.

Another suspected spy was indicted on similar charges the same afternoon, the latest in a string of espionage incidents as Iran ramps up its effort to recruit Israelis as spies in exchange for money.

According to the indictment against the pair from Tiberias, 18-year-old Yoni Segal and 20-year-old Omri Mizrahi maintained contact with several Iranian agents for around a month, from mid-May up until their arrest on June 15.

The first agent reached out to the pair by introducing himself as a “Kaplanist leftist,” starting them out with small tasks — writing “Bibi is a dictator” on slips of paper and banknotes, then filming videos of themselves burning the messages.

The agents later employed them to gather intelligence on shopping malls and hospitals, paying them NIS 1,000 ($298) each to film videos documenting several locations over the course of a day.

The two provided information on the number of entrances to each building and on the number of security guards stationed at each site, prosecutors said.

They were arrested while allegedly preparing to travel to Iran to undergo shooting training with the goal of assassinating a senior Israeli figure, whose identity was not disclosed to the defendants.

Channel 12 previously reported that the agents sought to kill a high-ranking Israeli scientist.

The handlers promised each defendant NIS 200,000 ($60,000) in cryptocurrency, as well as to relocate them and their families to Iran if they followed through with the assassination.

The two men planned to meet the agents in Turkey or Greece, where they would be brought to Iran for training.

Segal suggested to one of the agents, who went by the alias “Dior,” that he leave Israel by boat to Cyprus or Greece. He received NIS 7,000 ($2,083) from the agent as an advance payment for the trip.

According to prosecutors, the defendants were fully aware that they were in contact with Iranian agents from early on in their correspondence with them.

This was disputed by Segal’s former lawyer Fadi Hamdan, who claimed the young man “did not understand that this was an Iranian agent,” in a Channel 12 interview.

Hamdan told The Times of Israel Thursday that he no longer represents Segal.

Both defendants were charged in the Nazareth District Court with maintaining contact with a foreign agent and providing intelligence to the enemy.

Segal was also charged with obstruction of justice for deleting messages he exchanged with one of the agents in an attempt to conceal evidence.

Later on Thursday, state prosecutors indicted another suspected spy for Iran, 33-year-old Mark Morgain from the West Bank settlement of Hamra.

According to the prosecution, an Iranian agent contacted Morgain in June, offering him a daily allowance of NIS 2,000 ($598) to do his bidding.

Even when the defendant began to suspect his contact was an Iranian agent, he remained willfully ignorant, telling him that “it is irrelevant and I don’t want to know” whether he was working on behalf of the enemy country.

During his work for the handler, Morgain agreed to transport a grenade from one hidden location to another. He went to the location specified by his handler, but didn’t find the explosive. Regardless, he was paid several hundred dollars for his failed attempt, prosecutors said.

The defendant was also enlisted to film a video of a missile interception during open war between Israel and Iran and send it to his handler, according to police.

Morgain was charged in the Beersheba District Court with maintaining contact with a foreign agent and providing intelligence to the enemy. He was also indicted on the charge of possessing dangerous drugs not intended for personal use, after police found 800 grams of illegal stimulants in his home.

In yet another development Thursday, the Israel Police announced the arrest of another citizen on suspicion of spying for Iran.

The Beersheba resident, 25, was arrested at Ben Gurion Airport. He is suspected of contact with an Iranian agent.

A police statement said the Shin Bet had provided intelligence that helped lead to his arrest, and that a court had extended his remand in custody.

Over the past two years, Iranian intelligence operatives have ramped up their efforts to recruit ordinary Israelis as spies in exchange for money.

In most cases, the suspects began by carrying out small, innocuous tasks that gradually grew into more serious offenses, like intelligence gathering and assassination plots.

Police have cautioned Israeli citizens and residents against “engaging in contact with foreign operatives and carrying out tasks for them,” and have vowed to take harsh legal action against those involved in such activities.