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LONDON — Israeli police and intelligence providers mentioned they foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate high leaders together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Moti Maman, a 73-year-old Israeli businessman from the town of Ashkelon, is accused of twice smuggling himself into Iran through Turkey to satisfy with intelligence officers directing would-be plots from Tehran.
The discussions allegedly included potential plans to assault Netanyahu, Protection Minister Yoav Gallant, Shin Guess intelligence chief Ronen Bar and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, amongst others.
Police and Shin Guess mentioned the alleged plots had been supposed as retaliation for the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Hanieyh in Tehran in July, which Iran blamed on Israel.
A joint police and Shin Guess assertion additionally accused Maman of discussing the opportunity of appearing as a cash courier for others in Israel, finding Russian and American parts for the elimination of Tehran’s opponents in Europe and the U.S. and recruiting a Mossad “double agent.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Protection Minister Yoav Gallant (R) attend a press convention within the Kirya army base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 28, 2023. (Abir Sultan/Pool Picture through AP, File)
Abir Sultan/AP
Maman’s purported contacts had been an Iranian businessman named solely as Eddie, a person named Hajjah who was introduced as an Iranian intelligence agent and different unnamed intelligence personnel.
The 73-year-old is alleged to have traveled to Iran twice — in Could and August 2024 — following preparatory conferences with representatives of Eddie in Turkey, the primary of which occurred within the southern metropolis of Samandag in April 2024, police mentioned.
Maman was smuggled by means of the Turkey-Iran border twice, the second time “hidden inside a truck cabin,” the assertion mentioned.
“The Israeli citizen demanded an advance fee of $1 million {dollars} earlier than performing any motion,” police and Shin Guess mentioned. “Iranian brokers refused his request and knowledgeable him they might contact him sooner or later.”
Maman allegedly obtained the equal of about $558,000 in euros for attending the conferences with Iranian intelligence personnel.
Authorities indicted Maman on Sept. 19.
A senior Shin Guess official described the case as “very severe,” including that safety assessments “counsel that Iranians will proceed their efforts to recruit operatives in Israel for intelligence gathering and finishing up terrorist missions in Israel, together with approaching people with prison backgrounds to meet these duties.”
ABC Information’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
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