The spy on the Tel Aviv boardwalk, near the US Embassy
“At a time when Iran is trying to get closer to the US, it sent an agent to try to gather intelligence in order to carry out a terror attack against the American Embassy in Israel. This is just one further example of Iran’s policy of doublespeak and further proof that Iran’s words do not match its actions.”
Yes. Although no doubt he was photographing the Embassy as a tourist!
“Iranian arrested in Israel on suspicion of espionage,” by Gavriel Fiske for the Times of Israel, September 29 (thanks to Lookmann):
Israeli security officials recently detained an Iranian with Belgian citizenship who officials believe is an agent of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and whose main mission was to spy on American interests inside Israel.
The agent, Ali Mansouri, was arrested at Ben-Gurion International Airport on September 11 by the Shin Bet security service while attempting to depart Israel for Belgium, the security agency said Sunday.
He was traveling under the alias Alex Mans and had been observed photographing the US Embassy in Tel Aviv and recording activity there. He was found with photographs of the US embassy and other sites.
A gag order on the arrest was lifted Sunday morning, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was making his way to New York to deliver a speech at the UN widely expected to attempt to refocus world attention on Iran’s nuclear program.
A member of the prime minister’s delegation to New York said Sunday that the arrest was proof that Iranian attempts at detente with the West had not changed its actions on the ground.
“At a time when Iran is trying to get closer to the US, it sent an agent to try to gather intelligence in order to carry out a terror attack against the American Embassy in Israel,” the official said. “This is just one further example of Iran’s policy of doublespeak and further proof that Iran’s words do not match its actions.”
Mansouri said during questioning that he was promised $1 million in exchange for his activities inside Israel, and described how he was recruited by the special operations unit of the Revolutionary Guards.
Mansouri said he was deprived of sleep and bound to a chair during Shin Bet investigation, Channel 2 News reported Sunday night. He said he was not hit or hurt during questioning, the report added.
Mansouri’s attorney was quoted by Channel 2 saying that his client’s situation was more complex, but that “he has no agenda against Israel.”
Mansouri has visited Israel several times and was under surveillance by Israeli intelligence. According to the Shin Bet, Mansouri, a businessman, was also looking to establish business interests in Israel that could serve as fronts for Iranian intelligence activities in the Jewish state.
The aim was to establish a front behind which the Revolutionary Guards could operate in Israel, against Israel, Channel 10 news reported Sunday night. A subsequent stage would have been to send terrorists to Israel to carry out attacks, it added….