Israel military, spy agencies track Iranian mobile phones to carry out assassinations

Israel has killed Iranian nuclear scientists and military chiefs by tracking their mobile phones, in the latest case of technology-driven warfare giving the Jewish state the edge over its enemies.

Former Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, second from right, shakes hands with Iranian Chief of Staff for the Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri, left, and the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard force, Hossein Salami, centre. All three have been assassinated by Israel. Picture: AFP

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Israel has killed Iranian nuclear scientists and military chiefs by tracking their mobile phones, in the latest case of technology-­driven warfare giving the Jewish state the edge over its enemies.

Less than a year after Israel masterminded a wave of bombs implanted in pagers and walkie-talkies being used by top Hezbollah operatives, its military has used mobile phone-tracking technology for targeted assassinations, according to reports from the Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The assassinations have prompt­ed Iranian authorities to ban its officials from using any equipment connected to communication networks.

Iranian citizens have also been warned not to use a host of popular apps amid fears that they could be used to track locations.

“Following recent targeted ­assassinations by the Zionist regime, including the assassination of scientists, reports indicate that the regime is using mobile phone tracking as one of the main methods to identify and target individuals,” the Fars News Agency said in a report posted to Telegram.

On Tuesday, the Israel Defence Forces killed Iranian Major-General Ali Shadmani, a close confidant of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the newly appointed commander of the Khatam al-­Anbiya Headquarters.

Iran's newly appointed military chief Ali Shadmani, who was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tuesday.

The assassination came just days after his predecessor, Gholam Ali Rashid, was similarly killed in an Israeli strike.

Dozens of Iranian commanders were killed in the initial strike of Operation Rising Lion last Thursday.

Iranian officials have been advised to use anti-tracking phones amid warnings that even the act of turning off a phone when attending meetings or key locations such as hideaways or residences can reveal the person’s whereabouts.

A statement issued by Iran’s Cybersecurity Command said officials and security teams were prohibited from using all communi­cation network-connected equip­ment including phones, smart watches and portable computers.

“Dear people, be sure to minimise the use of smart devices connected to the internet and take the necessary precautions,” the warning said.

In a post to its Telegram account, the Fars News Agency warned that apps such as Whats­App and Telegram “record and publish a user’s location as soon as the phone is turned on or connected to the internet”.

“Even brief use of these apps can reveal a person’s exact ­location,” the post said.

The warnings prompted Meta, the company that owns Whats­App and Facebook, to issue a statement disputing Iran’s claims.

A spokesperson for WhatsApp said the application did not track precise locations and did not ­provide bulk information to any government.

“We’re concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most.

“All of the messages you send to family and friends on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted, meaning no one except the sender and recipient has access to those messages, not even WhatsApp,” the spokesperson said.

Modern technology played a large part in the first stage of the operation, with a swarm of small explosive drones that had been put in position months earlier activated to kill senior Iranian commanders and strike air-defence radars and communications hubs, which caused initial chaos inside Tehran’s military and allowed Israeli fighter jets free rein to unleash the main part of the attack.

 Haniyeh, formerly the political leader of Gaza-based terrorist organisation Hamas, was assassinated while in Tehran last July for the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Israeli agents planted an explosive device in the bedroom of the IRGC-organised guesthouse where Haniyeh was staying.

According to reports in the Times of Israel, the operation was almost scuttled when the air­conditioning unit in the room broke down and plans were made for Haniyeh to move to a different room. Guesthouse staff were, however, able to fix the unit, allowing the Hamas leader to return to his original room.

Soon after his return, the bomb was detonated remotely.

Last September, Israel remotely detonated bombs in pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah, killing more than 50 people and injuring thousands.

The Iranian-backed terrorist group had feared mobile phones would be compromised and shifted communications to old-world devices such as pagers.

But Israel’s spy agency was able to intercept a shipment of the Hungarian-manufactured pagers branded with the name of a ­Taiwanese technology company and implanted in each one a tiny bomb that was able to be detonated when the pager received a ­specific code.

Additional reporting: agencies