Its achievements – from taking out ten key nuclear scientists to building drones inside Iran – were the result of many years of work
June 20, 2025 10:57
Three days before Israel launched the war against Iran – with the knowledge and backing of US President Donald Trump – dozens of Mossad operatives from its elite commando unit infiltrated several areas of the Islamic Republic.
They reached pre-prepared meeting points, where dozens of local helpers were already waiting. These collaborators had prepared the rendezvous points, vehicles, safe houses, communication equipment, and had opened the pre-stocked warehouses. Drone components were smuggled into Iran.
The Mossad operatives were divided into small action teams. They had three main missions.
First, to assemble and launch drones from the warehouses to disable Iran’s air defence systems, especially those that were not hit in attacks over the previous year. This was to paralyse the Islamic Republic's ability to act against the Israeli Air Force.
Second, to assist in assassinating Iranian scientists.
Third, to continue gathering intelligence in real time to help the Israeli Air Force assess the damage caused to Iran and leverage it for continued strikes.
All three missions were completed successfully and even exceeded expectations.
The Mossad commandos, operating in small teams, launched drones that successfully targeted Iran’s air defence systems. By doing so, they paved the way – creating a free air corridor leading all the way from Israel through Jordan, Syria, and Iraq to western Iran. This allowed the Israeli Air Force to strike forcefully and cause significant damage during the Friday pre-dawn assault at 3am on Iran’s nuclear facilities – foremost among them, the underground plant at Natanz, where nearly 20,000 centrifuges were installed for uranium enrichment.
The second mission, arguably even more important — though it has not received the deserved attention — was to assassinate or help the air force to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists. So far, 14 have been reported. These were not just ordinary physicists, chemists, or engineers.
They were the core of Iran’s nuclear knowledge base, forming the spearhead that could enable Iran to assemble a nuclear weapon if it chose to do so. These scientists belonged to the so-called “weapon group”, the third stage in building a bomb.
The first two stages are the production of fissile material and the assembly of the bomb’s “cores” (the segments into which the fissile material, optical-electrical systems and explosive chain are inserted).
The story of Dr Ferodian Abbasi Dwani is a good illustration of Mossad successes in this area. In 2010 assassins on a motorcycle attached a bomb to his car in the posh northern Tehran neighbourhood where he lived. Miraculously he survived and was appointed as the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI). A few years ago he left his office and was selected as the president of an Iranian prestigious university, yet he continued clandestinely to be involved in his country efforts to become a threshold nuclear state. Mossad agents never forgot him and kept following him. Last Friday 13th, he was killed in a joint Mossad-air force strike.
In an unprecedented move – an act of psychological warfare aiming to sow fear among the Iranian leadership – Mossad even released footage of the agents in action. Contrary to the impression created by the media, the Mossad operational achievements were the result of many years of work.
Over time, thousands of Mossad personnel were involved — both at headquarters in Glilot, north of Tel Aviv; and in the field, all over the globe. They experienced setbacks and failures, but they also accumulated knowledge and capabilities, building on past operations (such as previous assassinations or sabotage of nuclear facilities).
Mossad was not alone in these missions. The planning and execution also involved Military Intelligence (Aman), the Air Force, and personnel from the Atomic Energy Commission.
In fact, one of the most spectacular operations was executed by Aman. By sending fabricated signals, Israeli intelligence lured the top commanders of the IRGC's air aerospace space arm to gather at night between Thursday and Friday in an underground command centre. At around 3am on June 13 they were struck by an Israeli missile.
US President Donald Trump also played his role in deceiving the Iranians, by playing a double game. He gave Iran the impression that he was still interested in the stalled negotiation in order to reach a nuclear deal. A meeting between his envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran's deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had been scheduled for Sunday, June 15 in Oman.
In the past, Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen disclosed that Israeli operatives labelled as “blue and white" had ceased operating directly on Iranian soil due to excessive risk. Some reports indicated that operations were carried out remotely from outside Iran. There were also reports suggesting that Mossad had effectively created an “international force” composed of non-Israelis for such missions. They were recruited, screened and trained by Mossad experts.
However, it would be wrong to assume that they are pure mercenaries motivated by greed. Their motivations to work for Israel are varied: money, ideology, family reasons, grudge and revenge against the brutal and suppressing dictatorial regime of Iran and, in same cases, a sense of adventurism.
A new report in The Wall Street Journal added that the Mossad operatives who entered Iran were trained in a third country, meaning not in Israel.
The global admiration for the Mossad’s operations is certainly justified. These operations in Iran even surpassed the daring and imaginative “Beepers Operation” in Lebanon in September 2024, which injured thousands of Hezbollah operatives and dealt a significant moral and psychological blow to the Shiite organization, As in Lebanon, the Mossad and the army prove daily how penetrable and exposed Iran is to Israel’s intelligence, technological, and operational superiority.
Several media outlets worldwide have raised the possibility that if after all the inflammatory rhetoric by US president Donald Trump the US air force will not bomb Israeli special forces may land there to carry out operations aimed at destroying the site.
Iran has two nuclear enrichment sites. One at Natanz which was bombed and it would take a few years to repair the damage inflicted on it. The second site, at Fordow, was established around 20 years ago. It was covertly discovered by the intelligence communities of Israel, the UK and the United States, and its existence was publicly revealed in 2009. The facility is located near Qom – one of Shi’ite Islam’s holiest cities and the former residence of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic – approximately 200km south of Tehran.
The site at Fordow was built into the side of a mountain, approximately 70-80m underground, rendering it largely impervious to Israeli airstrikes. It’s a relatively small facility, housing up to 4,000 of Iran’s most advanced centrifuges. These machines enrich uranium at a highly efficient rate, with minimal loss of enriched material.
According to Iranian reports and Western sources, the Fordow site was attacked by Israel, but satellite imagery revealed that the damage was limited to above-ground structures. That's why Trump is now considering to enter the war and demolish Fordow. The IAF does not possess the massive bunker-busting bombs, each weighing around 14 tons, that are carried by US B-2 bombers.
The view that Israel may send ground forces to Fordow is based on the successful, bold Mossad operations at the onset of the war.
However it is clear that if the Mossad and the IDF's special forces are sent to attack Fordow or any other location in Iran, it will be an extremely dangerous operation requiring them not only to carry out the mission but also exit safely.