""Say you're tour guides": 7 Haifa residents accused of spying for Iran

October 25, 2024   

The State Attorney's Office filed an indictment today (Friday) with the Haifa District Court against seven residents of Haifa and the north, who ran an Iranian spy cell for about two years. The indictment charges them with security offenses of aiding the enemy in war and passing information to the enemy, and requested that they be detained until the end of the proceedings. The expected sentence is life imprisonment or the death penalty. The intensive investigation, which began with the revelation of the affair, revealed that the seven defendants operated as part of an organized cell recruited by an Iranian agent, and engaged over a long period of about two years in collecting information and photographing military installations and bases - including the Air Force bases in Nevatim and Ramat David, the Kirya camp in Tel Aviv, Iron Dome battery sites, and more. The main defendant and head of the cell is Aziz Nisnov, 43, who was in contact with the Iranian operators, and worked to recruit additional members to the cell. The second defendant is Alexander Seddikov, 58, who served as Nisnov's deputy, and was actually responsible for managing the cell and distributing tasks and payments among its members. The third defendant is a minor who served as the main executor of the photography tasks and sending the products to the Iranian operators. Another minor defendant was involved in photography tasks, sending products, and receiving money from the Iranian agent. The other defendants in the case are: Yigal Nissan, 20, son of the defendant Nisnov, Vyacheslav Goshchin, 46, and Yevgeny Yofa, 47, from Nof al-Galil. The seven defendants carried out approximately 600 missions for the Iranians. Missions that are divided into three main axes: gathering information against sensitive facilities in the State of Israel, against military bases, and against human targets - and all for the purpose of harming the Iranians. According to the facts of the indictment, which was filed through attorneys Einav Itsko Gold, Segev Adler, and Mor Ben Abu from the Haifa District Attorney's Office, in the past two years the defendants carried out numerous missions for a man who identified himself as Elkhan Ageev, on behalf of intelligence officials in Iran, and another foreign agent known as "Orkhan." The two agents were in constant contact with the defendants and recruited them to carry out various missions with the aim of gathering intelligence for Iran, including photographing and collecting information on civilian infrastructure, Military bases, IDF defense systems and weapons, as well as tracking various people. The defendants carried out hundreds of missions to photograph bases, including the Nevatim, Ramat David, Tel Nof, Palmahim, IAF bases in Meron and Mitzpe Ramon, as well as bases in Be'er Tuvia, Kiryat Gat, Emek Hefer, the Glilot complex, and more. In addition, the defendants photographed, in accordance with the instructions of the Iranian operators, the Iron Dome systems in the Haifa and Kiryat areas, the government complex in Haifa, the ports of Haifa, Ashdod and Eilat, the Hadera power plant, and the IDF observation balloon in the Golani Junction area. Among the other missions was a mission to photograph the Nevatim base on 14.4.24, the day after the Iranian attack that hit the base. The Iranian operators sent the defendants the locations of the sites to be photographed, including maps, aerial photographs and precise locations, and sometimes even the location from which they were to take the photos. The operators also sent the minor defendant landmarks of several military bases and strategic sites, for the purpose of carrying out future photography missions, including Golani Air Base, which included a landmark in the dining room at the base, the David Institute (Rafael), and more. Nisnov was asked to find out details about an expert in gas engineering and Caucasus affairs from the University of Haifa, whose lectures on Iran are published online. Among other things, he was asked to find out details about her relatives, her vehicle, her schedule, and more. In addition, and in case they were caught taking pictures in prohibited places, Nisnov created a cover story for the squad as if they were tour guides. In exchange for completing the missions, the defendants received payment for each mission and reimbursement of expenses ranging from $500 to $1,200 per mission. The total payment they received was $300,000, which was divided among the members of the squad. The State Attorney's Office emphasizes that this is one of the most serious cases of security offenses that have been exposed in the State of Israel, and which were committed by Israeli citizens who knew full well that they were acting against the security of the state and for the benefit of Iran, at a time when the State of Israel is waging a difficult war on several fronts. In light of this, the investigation of the affair was closely monitored for several weeks by the attorneys who filed the indictment and led and managed by the head of the security team at the Haifa District Attorney's Office, Attorney Shelly. Zeevi-Barzilai.