Two Israeli Air Force technicians were charged on Thursday with spying on behalf of Iran, including providing information on fighter jets and military facilities, Israeli authorities announced in one of the most serious incidents amid a wave of efforts by Tehran to recruit Israelis.
An indictment filed by military prosecutors on Thursday morning accused the pair, who served as F-15 aircraft mechanics at the IAF’s Tel Nof Airbase, of a series of “security offenses on behalf of Iranian intelligence elements.”
One soldier was charged with aiding an enemy in wartime, providing information to an enemy, facilitating contact with a foreign agent, and additional offenses. The second soldier was charged with contact with a foreign agent, providing information to an enemy, and other offenses.
In a joint statement, the Shin Bet security agency, the IDF, and the police said that the two technicians claimed in their interrogation that contact with the Iranian handlers was severed after they refused to carry out tasks involving weapons.
“However, even after the contact was cut off at the initiative of the handler, they did not cease attempts to renew contact, for the purpose of financial gain,” the statement said.
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Army Radio reported that when the contact began around a year ago, an Iranian handler asked one of the soldiers, “What monthly salary would satisfy you?” and the soldier replied, “$1,300.”
According to the indictment, over the course of several months, the two soldiers “maintained contact with Iranian intelligence elements and carried out various tasks under their direction in exchange for money.”
The indictment also said that one of the soldiers transferred to an Iranian agent “materials from his military training relating to fighter aircraft systems, as well as documentation of facilities and areas within a military base.”
The Kan public broadcaster reported that this included a diagram detailing the engine of an Israeli aircraft, as well as photographs containing the face of an aviation instructor.
Army Radio reported that the Iranian handler was not satisfied with the confidential materials from the technician’s training. The soldier later sent the handler photographs of a control tower at the base, with runways and drones visible in the background. The report said the soldier received no compensation for these images.
In an attempt to prove he was serving at an airbase, one of the soldiers sent the Iranian handlers a photo of a fighter jet, also without receiving compensation, Army Radio reported.
An Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jet takes off for strikes in Iran, in a handout photo published April 6, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)
According to Army Radio, the Iranian handlers asked one of the soldiers to assassinate IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar. The soldier told an Iranian agent that he would “check it and try,” according to the report.
In addition, Army Radio reported that the two soldiers were allegedly enlisted by the Iranian agents to gather intelligence and take photographs of the streets where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and former IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi live, and information about Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
They were also asked to provide photos from Rothschild and Kaplan streets in Tel Aviv; a military base; residences of senior pilots; as well as coordinates of Iron Dome batteries and other air defense systems, the report said.
Ahead of the 12-day war with Iran in June 2025, the Iranian handlers asked one of the soldiers to deliberately delay the launching of an aircraft for operational activity, in exchange for hundreds of dollars, Army Radio reported. The soldier, according to the report, did not agree.
At one point, an Iranian agent asked one of the soldiers to carry out a shooting attack. After the soldier refused, the Iranian agent cut off contact. Despite this, the soldier continued to try to renew contact with the Iranian handler, sending him several messages that went unanswered.
Army Radio reported that the soldier continued trying to find other Iranian agents he could be in contact with, but was unsuccessful.
Eight other soldiers serving at the base were reportedly suspected of having known about the alleged espionage without reporting it.
After the incident was uncovered, the commander of Tel Nof convened his soldiers for a discussion on information security, in which he divulged that he had been summoned by the Shin Bet over the affair, according to the Kan report.
The investigation was carried out jointly by the Shin Bet, Military Police, and Israel Police. In the joint statement, the authorities said they “again warn Israeli citizens, including soldiers, about the very act of maintaining contact with foreign elements from enemy states, let alone carrying out tasks for them in exchange for payment or any other benefit.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir meets aircrews and technicians at Tel Nof Airbase, June 14, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The alleged spying joins a long string of similar scandals in which ordinary Israelis have been arrested on suspicion of carrying out tasks, usually intelligence gathering and vandalism, at the behest of Iran-linked agents they met online.
Iranian agents usually start out their recruits with relatively mundane tasks such as vandalism or the filming of public locations, which then escalate into more severe, sometimes even violent offenses.
On Monday, two young men from central Israel were indicted on espionage charges after allegedly maintaining contact with an Iranian intelligence agent. One of them had already bought a ticket to Dubai where he planned to meet his handler, prosecutors claimed.
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