Israel Apparently Spied on Khamenei via CCTV in Tehran Before Launching Attack
Israeli intelligence is reported to have hacked a vast network of traffic CCTV cameras in Tehran to track the movements of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s guards and other senior officials. The incident allegedly killed Khamenei and a number of Iranian officials.
The data was used to assist Israeli intelligence in monitoring Khamenei’s movements, before he was declared dead in a coordinated attack by the United States (US) and Israel over the weekend.
According to detikNews, citing a Financial Times report which quotes two sources familiar with the matter, and in turn cited by The Times of Israel and The Times of India, on Wednesday 4 March 2026, the report says that for years Israeli intelligence has quietly tracked the late Khamenei’s movements.
Referring to the Financial Times report, nearly all Tehran area traffic CCTV cameras have been hacked by Israeli intelligence or Mossad for years. Since Israel gained access to Tehran’s traffic CCTV several years ago, one camera view was directed so as to show the location of Khamenei’s security detail parking their private cars.
This has benefited Israel by providing information on daily activities at the tightly guarded complex. Over time, through those traffic cameras, Israel has been able to build a detailed profile or what Mossad calls a ‘life pattern’.
Through data from the traffic CCTV, Tel Aviv’s intelligence could compile a dossier on the home addresses of Iran’s security guards, their working hours, travel routes, and, most importantly, which officials are protected by those guards.
According to people familiar with the matter, the Tehran traffic CCTV footage is believed to have been encrypted to servers in Tel Aviv and southern Israel.
“We know Tehran as well as we know Jerusalem,” said an Israeli intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Financial Times.
“And when you know it (a place) as well as you know the street you grew up on, you will notice even one thing out of place,” he added.
Meanwhile, Israeli and US intelligence, in the Financial Times report, also disrupted mobile phone networks in the Pasteur Street area in Tehran, the site where Khamenei was killed. This was done so that anyone trying to contact the guards and report the warning would receive a busy signal.
According to officials cited by the Financial Times, Israel used devices and AI algorithms they had developed to sift through piles of data on Iran’s leadership and their movements. This enabled Israel to track Khamenei at a meeting on Saturday (28 February) where he was struck by the US and Israel attack.
(ams/alg)