JERUSALEM, Aug. 30 — Two Israeli teenagers, aged 14 and 16, were charged with spying and carrying out other paid assignments for an Iranian intelligence agent, Israel’s police said Sunday.
The two, from the Haifa area in northern Israel, contacted the Iranian agent after one of them responded to a job offer on Telegram.
Police said the teenager later recruited his friend and the pair carried out tasks, including photographing sites in central Israel, gathering information on security arrangements, spraying anti-government graffiti, and trying to recruit other minors.
They were paid several thousand shekels in cryptocurrency, according to police.
Israel’s state-owned Kan TV news reported that they also sent information on entrances and exits, as well as the number of security guards, at shopping malls in Tel Aviv and Herzliya, a city north of Tel Aviv.
The case follows a series of arrests over alleged Iranian efforts to recruit Israelis online. Israeli authorities have previously warned that Iranian operatives were approaching minors through social media with offers of payment for spying tasks.
In 2025, 25 Israelis and foreign residents were indicted for spying for Iran in 2025, and 120 Iranian espionage attempts were thwarted, according to the Shin Bet domestic security agency. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
