Middle East: Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib confirmed on Sunday that Iran has obtained a trove of documents concerning the Israeli regime’s nuclear facilities, which he said will enhance the country’s offensive capabilities.

Khatib said the "comprehensive and complex" operation was carried out inside the occupied territories in transferring “strategic, operational, and scientific information” to the Islamic Republic.

“The documents we obtained from the Zionist regime relate to information about their nuclear facilities,” Khatib told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), a day after it was revealed.

“These documents and other strategic records of the regime will enhance the country’s offensive capabilities.”

He further stated that the transmission methods remain protected and will not be released anytime soon, but added that some of the documents would soon be made public.

The documents were acquired with the assistance of informants on the ground and transported to Iran under strict secrecy. The files will be partially released to the public in the coming days, as per reports.

How were the secret documents acquired?

Sources familiar with the operation told IRIB on Saturday that the intelligence breach constitutes one of the most significant blows to the occupying Israeli regime.

Although the operation to obtain the documents was conducted some time ago, the sources explained that the sheer volume of materials and the need to transport them securely into Iran necessitated a news blackout to ensure their safe arrival at designated protected locations.

They also noted that the vast quantity of documents, along with accompanying images and videos, has required an extensive amount of time to review.

Informed sources further revealed to IRIB that the arrest of Israeli settlers accused of providing services to Iran occurred only after the documents had already been safely transported out of the occupied Palestinian territories.

No specific details about the contents of the documents have been publicly disclosed.

The operation involved recruiting several Israeli settlers and resulted in the acquisition of thousands of documents, images, and videos concerning Israeli nuclear projects and facilities, including the Negev Nuclear Research Center (Dimona) and other critical sites.

The revelation comes less than three weeks after Israeli regime authorities announced the arrest of two men on suspicion of committing so-called "security crimes" on behalf of Iran.

According to a joint statement issued on May 20 by Israeli police and the Shin Bet agency, Roy Mizrahi and Almog Atias, two 25-year-old men from Nesher, were detained in late April on suspicion of conducting intelligence-gathering missions for Iran.

It remains unclear what specific actions they took or whether they were directly involved in the recent document transfer operation, as the Israeli regime is withholding details of the case, including its objectives and methods, citing security reasons.

A more substantial understanding of the involvement of Israeli settlers in espionage activities for Iran is provided by a February article by Yossi Melman in The Economist, titled “Why are so many Israeli Jews spying for Iran?”

The article highlights an unprecedented rise in Israeli settlers spying for Tehran.

Citing the Shin Bet, the article states that 39 Israelis were arrested in 2024 on suspicion of spying for Iran – just the tip of the iceberg compared to the hundreds reportedly recruited since late 2022, according to an Israeli internal security official.

These individuals were reportedly recruited through social media platforms or during travel, and come from diverse backgrounds: Jewish and Arab, religious and secular, young and old, male and female.

The article notes that the Israeli regime has long prided itself on strong counter-espionage capabilities and cohesion, which historically limited Arab states’ success in recruiting Israeli settlers during wartime. However, the situation appears to be shifting now.

Many interpret this surge in anti-regime operations as a symptom of an accelerated implosion within Israeli settler society, a fragmentation of settler-colonial identity and a growing distrust in the occupying regime amid the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza.

"We need to deter others from collaborating with our worst enemies, before it turns into a national pandemic," Melman quoted a former Shin Bet official.

What do the documents likely contain?

Although the content of the documents is still unpublished and shrouded in secrecy, certain elements can be deduced based on statements made by Iranian officials so far.

Iran's Intelligence Minister Khatib stressed that they are related to Israeli nuclear facilities, which certainly implies the Dimona facility, officially known as the Negev Nuclear Research Center, a nuclear installation located in the Negev Desert near the city of Dimona.

It is widely believed to be the center of the Israeli nuclear weapons program, although the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) does not have access because the regime is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has never officially acknowledged Dimona's full purpose.

Iran and other regional countries, all signatories to the NPT, have been pressuring the UN and the international community for years to force the Israeli regime to accede to the treaty.

The Dimona facility is believed to house a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor, supplied by France in the late 1950s, and is likely involved in the production of nuclear weapons-grade material.

A 1986 leak by Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at the facility, provided ample and clinching evidence of the secret Israeli nuclear weapons program, including photos of bomb components.

The documents obtained by Iran could provide deeper insight into this secret location, possible underground upgrades, structural features and device specifications, as well as thousands of other useful technical details.

This information, whether it concerns only the Dimona facility or additional ones that have not yet been revealed, could be useful to Iran, different regional governments, as well as to the IAEA and other international organizations.

Khatib pointed out that the documents will enhance Iran's offensive capabilities, which means they also contain useful data for the Iranian armed forces, specifically potential targets for Iranian missiles and drones in the event of an escalation of regional conflict.

Additionally, they may reveal details about Israel's offensive capabilities, as well as possibly shed light on the so-called Vela incident in the Indian Ocean in 1979, which many analysts suspect was an undeclared Israeli nuclear weapons test.

The findings from the documents could effectively invalidate the Israeli policy of nuclear ambiguity (also known as "nuclear opacity") — neither confirming nor denying its nuclear capabilities — used by the regime since the 1960s.

How Israel built its clandestine nuke program?

Israel secretly launched its nuclear program in 1952 with crucial technological support from France and the United States — ironically, the very nations that have been most vocal in criticizing Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities.

Reports suggest that Tel Aviv developed its first nuclear weapons around 1967-1968. From that point on, production accelerated rapidly, all carried out in near-total secrecy and without international scrutiny.

The first whistleblower to expose the regime’s hidden arsenal was Mordechai Vanunu in 1986. Two years later, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to 18 years in prison — a stark warning to anyone who dared unveil Israel’s nuclear veil.

In December 2013, former Knesset member Avraham Burg also broke the silence, openly admitting that Israel possesses both nuclear and chemical weapons.

He described the regime’s so-called “nuclear ambiguity” as outdated and childish — a bold stance that drew sharp criticism as well as legal trouble for him.

France and the United States were the architects behind Israel’s nuclear program. The regime’s weapons-grade fissile material stocks originated in France during the 1960s and from the US by the late 1960s.

US backing has effectively shielded Israel from accountability. In 1968, CIA Director Richard Helms informed President Lyndon Johnson that Israel had successfully built nuclear weapons.

The following year, during a meeting between President Richard Nixon and Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, it was agreed that Israel would be exempt from signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which had opened for signature just months earlier.

Israel is yet to sign the NPT, repeatedly rejecting calls to join the international arms control regime and refusing inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog.

In recent months, Israel has dramatically ramped up its rhetoric, threatening to target Iran’s nuclear sites — facilities that are peaceful by nature and under strict supervision by the UN nuclear agency.

Now, with Iran’s acquisition of secret documents related to Israel’s clandestine nuclear weapons program, the regime finds itself exposed and vulnerable — its long-guarded secrets laid bare and its future made uncertain.

 
Source: Press TV