Mossad had ‘some 100 agents’ on the ground in Iran on June 13, Israeli officials claim

Mossad inside IranTHE MOSSAD, ISRAEL’S PRIMARY covert action agency, had “some 100 agents” on the ground in Iran at the start of the Twelve-Day War, according to senior Israeli government officials who participated in a television documentary. The documentary was aired last week on Israel’s Channel 13 television channel. It features interviews with senior Israeli government officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Israel Katz, Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar, and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi.

According to the documentary, several new intelligence units focusing on Iran were established across the Israeli military establishment in the summer of 2023, in anticipation of a war with the Islamic Republic. These units acted in coordination with the Mossad in the lead-up to June 13, when Israel launched the opening salvos of the Twelve-Day War. The documentary claims that around 100 Mossad agents were active on the ground in the early hours of June 13. It appears that the term “agents”, as used in the documentary, refers primarily to Iranian Mossad assets, rather than Mossad officers.

Israeli officials describe the Mossad operation as “unprecedented” in scale, as never before had so many operatives been simultaneously activated for a single mission. It was also unprecedented in complexity, because it involved the deployment missile systems, the documentary claims. These systems had been previously smuggled into Iran and were used to destroy Iran’s anti-aircraft installations and ballistic missile launchers. Iranian war planners had not considered the possibility of missile attacks against their military installations originating from within Iran’s borders.

In addition to the Mossad-led component of the operation, members of the Israel Defense Forces were also active outside Israel’s borders that day. According to Brigadier General Gilad Keinan, commander of Israeli Air Forces’ Air Operations Group, Israeli troops were “on the ground somewhere in the Middle East” on the evening of June 13. He did not provide further details.

Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 22 September 2025 | Permalink