Israeli intelligence agents made dozens of ominous phone calls to several senior Iranian military officials earlier this month, warning them to "escape" with their families or be prepared to die, according to reports.
"I can advise you now, you have 12 hours to escape with your wife and child. Otherwise, you're on our list right now," an Israeli intelligence agent can be heard telling a senior Iranian general in an audio recording obtained by the Washington Post on Monday. "We will hit you, your family, your children, everyone, with the dirt," the agent continued, reiterating that he's willing to offer the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general a 12-hour "reprieve."
Open Warning Before Killer Strike
The phone call—one of at least 20 made to high-ranking Iranian officials—was placed just hours after Israel launched its attacks on Iran under Operation Rising Lion on June 13, according to several sources with knowledge of the mission who spoke to the Washington Post.
Israeli intelligence operatives, most likely affiliated with Mossad—the country's top spy agency—called senior Iranian leaders as part of a secret campaign aimed at unsettling and fracturing the regime through fear tactics.
The warnings were delivered in Persian, the official language of Iran.
"Like I said, 12 hours from this very minute that I spoke to you, you have time to escape," the Mossad agent warns the befuddled IRGC official. "If not, you have no one to blame but yourself."
"We're closer to you than your own neck vein. Put this in your head. May God protect you."
Mossad's Chilling Warning
The operative claims that he is "calling from a country that two hours ago," eliminated two senior IRGC commanders—Hossein Salami and Mohammad Bagheri—along with Vice Admiral Ali Shamkhani, the former chief of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
"One by one, to hell," the operative said of the fate of the three men, though Iranian media claims Shamkhani survived the assasination attempt.
"Do you want to be one of them? Do you want to be the next one on the list? Do you also want to destroy your wife and child? No, right?" the agent asks the general.
To which the regime official responds: "So, what should I do?"
The agent then directs the general to record a video condemning the Iranian regime and to send it through Telegram, a secure messaging and social media platform, within 12 hours.
Whether the general complied and created the video is unclear.
The purpose of the intimidation campaign was to spread fear among mid- and lower-level officials within the Iranian government, ultimately making it harder for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to replace senior leaders being eliminated by Israeli forces.
