Israeli has allegedly carried out an operation in Tehran targeting and eliminating an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) operative involved in plotting attacks against Jews in Germany, anti-regime media outlet Iran International reported Monday, citing its sources. According to the report, the elimination was carried out with a gun. At the end of 2023, a court in Düsseldorf convicted an Iranian citizen named Babak J. for involvement in planning an attempt to set fire to a synagogue in the city of Bochum, which was supposed to be carried out in November 2022, and sentenced him to two years and nine months in prison.
The decades-long covert conflict between Israel and Iran has seen the two nations engage in proxy battles, cyberattacks, and other forms of confrontations. Tensions spiked earlier this month when Iran launched a massive drone and missile barrage at Israeli territory, prompting reported Israeli airstrikes inside Iran.
At the core of the enmity is Iran's hostility toward Israel since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and its support for anti-Israel terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel has repeatedly struck Iranian-linked targets in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere to disrupt weapons transfers.
Neither government has claimed responsibility, maintaining their long-standing ambiguity over covert operations. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to prevent Iranian terrorist plots and oppose Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The incident comes amid stalled efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and growing fears over how close Iran may be to developing a nuclear weapon capability, which it has denied seeking.
With the shadow war appearing to enter a new, more overt phase, the risk of all-out conflict in the tinderbox region remains high. World powers have long feared a full-blown Iranian-Israeli war could engulf the entire Middle East.
