Following its June 13 military strikes on Iranian targets, Israel initiated a covert psychological warfare campaign aimed at destabilizing Iran’s leadership, The Washington Post reported Monday, citing sources with knowledge of the operation.
According to the report, the operation’s intent was to instill fear and uncertainty at the highest levels of the Iranian regime. Senior figures were directly threatened as part of the strategy to fracture the cohesion of Tehran’s ruling elite.
Israeli intelligence agents, fluent in Farsi, reportedly reached out to more than 20 Iranian officials on their private mobile phones. The purpose of the calls was clear: issue an ultimatum to abandon their allegiance to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or face the threat of assassination.
The Washington Post reviewed both a transcript and an audio file of a call placed on June 13. In the message, an Israeli operative warned a high-ranking Iranian general, “I can advise you now, you have 12 hours to escape with your wife and child. Otherwise, you’re on our list right now.”
The agent added a chilling message underscoring Israel’s reach: “We’re closer to you than your own neck vein. Put this in your head. May God protect you.”
The general in question, a senior commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was instructed to film himself renouncing ties to the regime and submit the video via Telegram within 12 hours. While it remains unknown whether he complied, the broader aim was clear: instill fear and uncertainty within Iran’s power structure.
This psychological operation was designed to work in tandem with Israel’s physical strikes on Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure. Israeli officials confirmed that the effort was executed using intelligence operatives embedded within Iranian territory and resources positioned in advance.
The June 13 airstrikes themselves eliminated top Iranian officials, among them IRGC commander Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, armed forces chief Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, and nuclear scientist Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani. The operative heard in the recorded call reminded the targeted general of those losses, stating, “I’m calling from a country that two hours ago sent Bagheri, Salami, Shamkhani, one by one, to hell.”
The intimidation tactics reportedly extended to mid-level Iranian leadership who were either overlooked in the initial attacks or managed to survive. These follow-up threats were intended to deepen panic within the regime and impede its ability to function.
One source familiar with the details of the campaign explained, “The second-tier leadership that is supposed to inherit the positions and now fill in the places of those who have been eliminated, they are terrified.” The source further noted that this fear has made it “serious[ly] difficult” for Khamenei to appoint replacements, with some candidates declining to step into vacated roles.
{Matzav.com}